NC Policy Watch released the May 2011 edition of its Carolina Issues Poll.
It is pretty interesting stuff, particularly this question: 1) Because of the national recession, the state faces a revenue shortfall reaching $3.7 billion. Without additional revenue, addressing the shortfall will mean a cuts-only approach that requires deeper cuts than would otherwise be necessary to schools, public safety, healthcare, and other services. Would you favor an approach that makes cuts to services only, raises revenues only or combines cuts and spending with new revenues?
Ignore the fact that they omitted the word “taxes” from the question. Revenue is not creatio ex nihilo.
Overall, 31 percent wanted cuts only, 12 percent wanted revenue only, and 46 percent wanted a combination of the two. Things get interesting when you examine the crosstabs. Republicans and Independents had similar responses. Indeed, 42 percent of Republicans and 37 percent of Independents favored the cuts only approach, compared to only 20 percent of Democrats. Furthermore, a plurality of African-Americans (35 percent) favored the cuts only idea, which did not hold for other races polled. Finally, a plurality of young people (18-29) sided with the cuts only approach.
According to these poll results, “cuts only” Republicans in the legislature have the support of Independents, African-Americans, and 18-29 year-olds. That’s decent company.
