58% See Deficit as Very Serious Threat, Poll Finds

Congressional debate on the 1986 federal budget is being conducted at a time of growing public perception that the current deficit poses a very serious threat to the nation, according to the latest Gallup Poll.

The survey said that the public increasingly is giving highest priority to cuts in defense spending to reduce the deficit.

According to the poll, conducted in mid-April, 58% characterize the deficit as a “very serious” national problem and an additional 23% see it as a “fairly serious problem.” Only 5% perceive the deficit as “not a serious problem,” and 14% said that they have not given the matter much thought or did not express an opinion.

The latest figures represent a small but significant shift since December toward the view that the current deficit is very serious rather than a fairly serious problem. In the earlier survey, 54% called it very serious and 29% fairly serious.

The new survey found also that two-thirds of Americans (66%) favor cuts in defense spending, up from 61% last December and 57% in January, 1983. On the other hand, public support for each of three other deficit-reduction measures has fallen or remained static since the earlier surveys.

Currently, 39% favor cuts in government spending for social programs, not significantly changed from the 41% recorded in both 1984 and 1983. Raising income taxes is now favored by 18%, a significant reduction from 23% in December but unchanged from 1983.

By far the least popular means of reducing the deficit, cutting entitlement programs--such as Social Security--has steadily declined in public favor, from 12% in 1983 to 11% last year to 9% at present.

Sharp differences are found along political party lines.

Republicans favor defense cuts (56%) and cuts in spending for social programs (54%) by similar margins. However, 76% of Democrats favor defense cuts but only 26% approve of cuts in social programs.