WASHINGTON — Despite lingering anxiety over the Great Recession, Americans by a large margin want their federal government to focus more on cutting debt than on increasing spending even temporarily to boost the economy, according to a new McClatchy Newspapers-Marist poll.

Given a choice, 59 percent of Americans prefer reducing debt even if that slows the economic recovery, while 33 percent prefer new government efforts to stimulate the economy even if it means more federal spending.

The public mood helps explain the political environment in the nation’s capital, where talk of new stimulus plans for the weak recovery has faded and both major parties are looking at deep cuts in annual federal budget deficits, even if they wouldn’t yet reduce the $14 trillion debt.

The nearly 2-1 preference for cutting debt comes as President Obama negotiates with Congress over how to reduce the deficits. Obama wants a combination of spending cuts and tax increases; Republicans want only spending reductions.

Obama on Tuesday invited congressional leaders from both parties to resume talks Thursday at the White House. In a brief public statement before TV cameras, he said he was hopeful of progress and that both sides must compromise.

In the poll, people ages 18-29 were the most worried about the long-term debt. By 64-30 percent, they wanted the government to cut the debt.

Those ages 30-44 were the least worried about the debt and the most worried about the economy now. In that age group, 40 percent wanted the government to focus on stimulating the economy, while 51 percent wanted the top priority to be debt.

Among registered voters, Democrats were the only group that favored spending more to stimulate the economy rather than cutting debt, leaning that way by 50-45 percent. Independents favored targeting the debt by 61-32 percent, and Republicans by 79-15 percent.

The survey of 1,003 adults was conducted June 15-23. Results are statistically significant within 3.0 percentage points.

 

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