President Bush's call to create a Cabinet-level Department of
Homeland Security with an estimated budget of $37 billion and
169,000 employees, stands as the clearest example of a shift in the
federal government's post-Sept. 11 spending priorities. Like any
military effort, the war on terrorism requires significant
government funding. The results from a Gallup poll conducted just
prior to Bush's call to create the new defense agency indicate that
more than half of Americans think the government is spending the
right amount on the war on terrorism -- but a majority also think
it is spending too little on domestic issues. The public places
less priority on holding down the budget deficit than it does on
maintaining funding on these two fronts.
The May 28-29 poll* shows that 53% of Americans think the U.S.
government is spending the right amount of money to fight the war
on terrorism, while 20% think it is spending too little and another
20% of Americans think the government is spending too much.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say the United States
is spending too much on the war on terrorism, 26% to 11%.
When asked a separate question about domestic spending, just 27%
of Americans said the United States is spending the right amount
when it comes to such issues as education, healthcare and Social
Security. In fact, a majority (63%) says that there is too little
spending in these areas, while only 6% say there is too much.
Again, there is a clear partisan difference. More than
three-quarters of Democrats (77%) say there is not enough spending
on domestic issues, compared to less than half (45%) of Republicans
who think so.
Holding down the budget deficit is clearly not the public's top
priority at this time. When asked to choose which is more
important, increasing spending on the war on terrorism or holding
down the budget deficit, 54% chose increasing spending for the war
and 38% chose holding down the deficit. A similar question asked
Americans to choose between the importance of holding down the
budget deficit and increasing spending on domestic issues.
Increasing domestic spending was chosen as more important by 65% of
Americans, compared to 28% who chose holding down the deficit.
Again, partisan differences are evident in the data. When asked
to choose between spending for the war and holding down the
deficit, Democrats are significantly more likely than Republicans
to come down on the side of the deficit (43% to 31%). The pattern
reverses when domestic spending is involved. In that case,
Republicans are more likely to choose holding down the deficit, 38%
to 16%.
*Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,003 national
adults, aged 18 and older, conducted May 28-29, 2002. For results
based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95%
confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is
±3%.
