Americans Favor Spending Cuts-Tax Increase Combo

Americans overwhelmingly prefer a combination of spending cuts and tax increases to cut the federal deficit. Even among Republicans, that prescription was popular with 47 percent favoring it, The Washington Post-ABC News poll showed.

Democrats favored the dual approach by 77 percent and independents 64 percent. Overall, linking tax increases with budget cuts won the approval of 64 percent, the Post reported.

Of those polled, only 3 percent thought government should focus solely on raising taxes to balance the budget, while 31 percent felt that the deficit could be handled by spending cuts alone. About half of the Republicans, 49 percent, felt the focus should be on cuts, the Post said.