WASHINGTON – A majority of Americans want the Bush tax cuts extended for everyone, despite a strong push by President Barack Obama to eliminate them on higher incomes, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll.

The poll found 52 percent of registered voters saying they want all the tax cuts extended, including the tax cuts for incomes above $250,000, while 43 percent want the cuts extended just for incomes below that threshold.

All of the tax cuts first enacted under President George W. Bush are scheduled to expire on Dec. 31. Republicans want to extend them all. Obama wants to continue only those on income below $250,000 annually, and he vows to veto any move by Congress that would continue the higher-end tax cuts.

“The money we’re spending on these tax cuts for the wealthy is a major driver of our deficit,” he said last week as he worked to make it a major issue in his re-election campaign.

Yet some of the strongest support for extending all of the tax cuts came from some of Obama’s most reliable supporters, such as young voters, minorities and the poor and working class.

Young voters ages 18-29 favored tax cuts for everyone by a margin of 69-29, the largest margin of any age group.

And those making less than $50,000 supported tax cuts for all incomes by 53 percent to 41 percent.