Poll Watch: Americans Favor Obama’s Mixed Solution for Debt-Limit Deal 56% Vs. 19%

According to the latest Reuters/Ipsos Poll.

Showing an intensity of interest among Americans who often ignore the intricacies of policy in Washington, 83 percent of those polled said they were either very or somewhat concerned about the potential for a U.S. debt default on August 2.

The poll found that 56 percent of Americans want to see a combination of government spending cuts and tax increases included in a deal to bring down the U.S. budget deficit and permit a vote to raise the country’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.

This is the approach favored by Obama and his fellow Democrats to begin to put America’s fiscal house in order.

Republicans oppose tax increases and instead want to cut back deeply on spending, saying the federal budget has gotten out of control.

“It does seem to be that the popular narrative is falling on the side of the president on this one,” said Ipsos pollster Julia Clark.

In the poll, 19 percent said the best approach is only to cut existing programs, and 12 percent said only raising taxes would be the favored solution.

Obama’s Democrats and their Republican rivals have so far failed to forge agreement and are pursuing competing debt plans to avert a potentially disastrous default.

But, that is not saying that American voters know what is best for the economy or the government, especially with the President telling them he will only tax the rich.

So, for the debt-ceiling impasse, who do the voters blame?

The Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 31 percent of respondents held Republican lawmakers responsible for the debt impasse, 21 percent blamed Obama and 9 percent blamed Democratic lawmakers.

Along those lines, 29 percent said Republican lawmakers should give the most ground in the negotiations, a quarter said Obama should and a fifth said Democrats should.

The debt debate has potential consequences for the 2012 election year when Obama is seeking a second term as president.

People who identified themselves as political independents, who Obama needs to win re-election, tended to side with the Republicans. The poll found that 29 percent of independents said Obama should give the most ground in the negotiations, while 13 percent said Republicans should.

This is the polling the Democrats will argue places the voters on their side of the debt-limit argument. But, I do not think this will move the narrative for the GOP. The GOP will NEVER accept tax increases, but they may swallow some tax reform.

In fact, in a breaking piece of news, the GOP House Leadership has just announced that they will have to re-write the Boehner proposal in order to obtain 218 votes for passage. Senator Harry Reid has already stated that in the Senate the Boehner proposal is DOA.

So, if the GOP already knows that if they are getting the blame for this financial impasse in an economic climate that Obama now owns, they may be MORE inclined to compromise and just call it a day.