Poll: Public Support Spending Cuts to Get Inflation Under Control

Fifty-one percent of respondents said cutting government spending is the best way to control inflation, the only strategy that garnered majority support in a newly released I&I/TIPP poll.

The survey presented six strategies and asked respondents to choose strategies they prefer. Each respondent could pick multiple ways to control inflation.

Here are the results of the responses:

51% said cut government spending.
32% wanted to impose price controls.
30% said reverse recent regulations, especially on energy companies.
29% want a reduction in the tax rates on businesses.
26% said the Federal Reserve should print less money.
7% said that nothing can be done and that inflation should be allowed to run its course.
14% were not sure.
While most Republicans (65%) and independents (56%) favor cutting government spending, only one-third of Democrats (36%) do.
By ideology, conservatives (68%) and moderates (50%) back cutting government spending, while only 30% of liberals support it.
Imposing price controls is the most popular method for liberals to control inflation, favored by 43%.
Republicans (45%) favor reversing recent regulations, especially on energy companies.
68% of respondents said that inflation is "a long-term problem that will be with us for a while."
Only 19% said that it is a short-term problem that will soon disappear, while 13% were not sure.
Among Republicans, 80% said inflation was a long-term problem, while 68% of independents and 59% of Democrats agreed.

The poll of 1,300 Americans was completed in early October.

In a separate I&I TIPP poll, the Democrat spending plan currently being considered by Congress was supported by 55% of the public, with 42% opposing it.

However, the plan does not get majority support from either independents (51% are against it) or Republicans (79% oppose it). Only the massive backing by Democrats (88%) pushes the overall response to a majority support for the plan.

Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed said they are paying close attention to the developments surrounding the spending plan, while 35% said they are not following the story closely.

This second survey was conducted between Sept. 29 and Oct. 2 among 1,308 adults, with a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points.