March 04, 2011 09:02 PM UTC

Less Spending = More Jobs? Americans Ain't Buying It

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• by: Colorado Pols

The LA Times reports on a subject we’ve been discussing repeatedly in this space. Republicans in Congress are pushing their spending cut plans, but non-Tea Party voters aren’t happy about it:

As Vice President Joe Biden met with congressional leaders Thursday to try to resolve the impasse over government spending, Republicans were beginning to worry they were losing ground on voters’ top concern: jobs.

House Republican leaders have argued that their drive to reduce federal deficits is connected to job creation. But strategists acknowledge they have yet to succeed in making that link with voters…

…For GOP leaders, agreeing on a long-term deal is difficult because their determined freshman class came to Washington with a mission: to reduce the nation’s debt load by shrinking government.

So Republican leaders argue that cutting spending will lead to job growth. But the message does not seem to appeal to recession-weary voters. New polls show that Americans want the federal government to focus on job creation and economic growth. Reining in government spending ranks second. [Pols emphasis]

A majority agrees that deficits are a problem, a Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll showed Thursday. But Americans oppose specific cuts to Head Start preschools, education and college loan programs, which were among reductions in the spending bill passed by the House last month.

We’ve long thought that Republicans were in trouble on this message divide. They have to try to cut spending, since that’s all they talked about during the 2010 election cycle, but most voters don’t want to see the cuts that the GOP wants to make. They’ve backed themselves into a corner with no clear path to get out, and it’s going to cost them in 2012.