Nearly half of Americans say that spending cuts from the sequester will hurt the economy, a poll released Thursday shows.
Forty-six percent of respondents in the
CBS News/ New York Times poll see the cuts as damaging to the economy, compared to 35 percent who think they will have no effect. Just one in ten Americans surveyed April 24-28 think the automatic spending cuts will help.
More than a quarter of the 965 adults surveyed say they have been personally affected by the sequester, with Republicans, Democrats, and independents in agreement on the matter.
The public's views are in keeping with claims by the Obama administration that the economy has been adversely impacted by the cuts.
"It's slowed our growth, it's resulting in people being thrown out of work, and it's hurting folks all across the country," President Barack Obama said during a press conference Tuesday.
However, 69 percent of those surveyed say they have not been impacted by the cuts.
"I haven't personally noticed any difference," Carolyn McDonald, a Kentucky-based clinical microbiologist told the New York Times. "I think the cuts could hurt some people. Whether they would be hurt more if they had to pay more in taxes, I don't know. It's hard to weigh which would be better."
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