Poll: Likely Voters Side with Republicans on Budget Proposal...

...but they don't seem to know it. In a blind test absent party affiliation, The Hill poll asked likely voters which of two budget plans they preferred:

• Plan 1 - $1 trillion in tax hikes, $100 billion in cuts, no budget balance [i.e., Senate Democrats]; or
• Plan 2 - no new taxes, $5 trillion in cuts, and budget balance [i.e., House Republicans].

Here are the results:

Poll question 2 reinforces the results of question 1:



Although a substantial majority side with the GOP plan, respondents say they trust the Democrats more on budgetary issues:

 

Questions 4 and 5:

"Change" for the Worse

"Two-thirds of likely voters say President Obama has kept his 2008 campaign promise to change America — but it’s changed for the worse, according to a sizable majority," The Hill reported yesterday.

A new poll for The Hill found 56 percent of likely voters believe Obama’s first term has transformed the nation in a negative way, compared to 35 percent who believe the country has changed for the better under his leadership.

The results signal broad voter unease with the direction the nation has taken under Obama’s leadership and present a major challenge for the incumbent Democrat as he seeks reelection this fall.

Conducted for The Hill by Pulse Opinion Research, the poll comes in the wake of last month’s Supreme Court decision that upheld the primary elements of Obama’s signature healthcare legislation.