Outside the Beltway

Poll: Majority Believes Not Raising Debt Ceiling Would Be Problematic

Doug Mataconis · Tuesday, July 19, 2011 · 2 comments

Signs, perhaps, that the public is coming to recognize that the debt kamikazes have no idea what they’re talking about:

A majority of Americans say that Congress failing to raise the debt ceiling would be a real and serious problem, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Fifty-five percent of all respondents — including 63 percent of Democrats, 59 percent of independents and 47 percent of Republicans — believe that not raising the ceiling would be problematic.

That’s compared with just 18 percent who say it wouldn’t be a real and serious problem. But that number jumps up to 33 percent among self-identified Tea Party supporters.

What this suggests is that raising the debt ceiling won’t necessarily hurt incumbents at the polls come 2012.

FILED UNDER: Congress, Deficit and Debt, Public Opinion Polls, US Politics, debt ceiling, NBC, Tea Party, Wall Street Journal

About Doug Mataconis

Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

Angel Amador says:

Wednesday, 20 July 2011 at 12:50

The only word that comes to mind is

BULL!
Terrye says:

Wednesday, 20 July 2011 at 17:16

Angel:

I think this is true. Most people do not spend all their time on line or watching cable news shows. They are not that partisan. They just know that this could be bad and they want a deal. They might not believe everything the media tells them, but they don’t believe everything that the Tea Party says either. They just want a deal. They want this to end.