The Deficit: Are Americans Too Stupid To Vote?

When historians look back on the recent recession, the growth of the American deficit, and the debate to control the national debt, they will be awed that voters blamed Congress and the Administration for their troubles. It will appear as it no one ever voted.

A new Gallup poll says that “The large majority of Americans say spending too much money on unneeded or wasteful federal programs is to blame for the federal budget deficit, while 22% say the deficit is a consequence of not raising enough in taxes to pay for needed programs.” Gallup did not find out exactly what “wasteful” means, but that is beyond the scope of the research

Americans also favor spending cuts over tax increases by a margin of 48% to 11%. Thirty-eight percent think a blend of the two methods is preferable.

Wasteful spending has always been a matter of voter taste. People who worry about losing jobs, or who have lost them, probably think that spending on unemployment benefits is worthwhile. People with safe jobs probably do not think that higher taxes are the best route to balance the budget. Social Security and Medicare will likely be sacred cows until the Treasury defaults. Military spending will not be substantially lowered until the large overseas fighting force is reduced by tens of thousands of soldiers. Nearly every voter knows these things, but based on the voting records, most Americans have not created a group of elected officials who have the will or means to cut costs. “Created” elected officials is the right expression. Politics is the art of being molded.

There is nothing wrong with spending money on defense or entitlement programs. To make certain that these parts of the government are run correctly is merely a result of people willing to share more of their incomes with the Treasury. That decision is still one of voter choice. Voters have voted, for the most part, to put people in office who are not willing to cut costs, because the voters do not want them too. The reasoning may seem circular, but that does no keep it from being true.

Too much is said about the need to cut entitlements and military spending and too little is said about why voters have not forced a national referendum to help settle the issues. The next real referendum will be the 2012 Presidential election, and the deficit could grow another $2 trillion before the new (or old) chief executive is sworn in.

Voters have not gotten any more or less than they deserved.

Methodology: Results for this USA Today/Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted April 20-23, 2011, with a random sample of 1,013 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

Douglas A. McIntyre