Americans Want Lower Taxes, Higher Government Spending

In American parlance, “spend like Congress” has become shorthand for reckless overspending. However, polling suggests Americans share Congress’s appetite for higher spending in most areas but do not support corresponding tax increases unless they target corporations and billionaires.

The latest poll from Economist/YouGov found that Americans want the federal government to increase spending on most major budget items. Sixty-nine percent said they wanted Social Security spending to increase, while only 6% wanted it decreased. Medicare, aid to the poor, Medicaid, and veterans spending were similarly popular, with overwhelming majorities favoring increases. Together, those programs account for roughly 49% to 52% of federal spending, or approximately $3.3 trillion to $3.5 trillion in 2024.

The area where Americans most want cuts is foreign aid. Only 21% said they wanted foreign aid increased, while 49% said they wanted it decreased. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was the only other program where more Americans favored cuts than increases, with 49% supporting decreases and 27% supporting increases. Even so, those two categories combined account for less than 1% of federal spending, meaning that even eliminating them entirely would still leave a large deficit.

When asked about government spending overall, 43% said they wanted it decreased, and only 28% said they wanted it increased, despite opposing cuts to most programs.

On the tax side of the equation, it is unsurprising that most respondents favored reducing the taxes they pay. This includes personal income taxes, which 53% wanted decreased and only 12% wanted increased, as well as the Social Security payroll tax, which only 13% wanted increased. Even the capital gains tax saw more respondents favoring a decrease, with 27% supporting cuts compared with 24% supporting an increase.

There was clear support for raising the corporate income tax, though. Forty-nine percent said they wanted it to increase, while only 19% wanted it decreased. The public also favored higher taxes on billionaires, with nearly two-thirds saying current tax levels are too low and only 6% saying they are too high.

Part of the enthusiasm for higher taxes on billionaires may come from their general unpopularity. The only billionaire in the poll with a positive favorability rating was Warren Buffett, with 45% viewing him favorably and 27% unfavorably.

The two least popular billionaires were Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, with net favorability ratings of -41 and -42, respectively.

More politically associated billionaires, such as Elon Musk and George Soros, were also unpopular overall but benefited from support among their respective partisan bases. Musk had a net favorability rating of -22, including a +45 rating among Trump voters. Soros showed the inverse pattern, with a net favorability rating of -28 overall but only -1 among Kamala Harris voters.