Gallup takes a look at the level of support for cuts in different programs:
Obviously there isn't a groundswell of support for cutting anything with the possible exception of foreign aid. But there are significant differences in the degree of opposition to cuts. For example, there's supermajority opposition to cutting education, Social Security, and Medicare. And there's more opposition to cutting anti-poverty programs than to reducing military spending.
In the same poll, Gallup found that 50% of Americans would oppose raising the debt ceiling unless Congress can come up with a plan to reduce the deficit. You hear talking heads decrying that, attacking the American public as wanting to have their cake and eat too because they simultaneously oppose spending cuts while supporting fiscal discipline.
Ironically, these are often the same talking heads that saluted the massive tax cuts for the wealthy that Republicans insisted on last December. And they never mention the fact that the easiest way to ensure Social Security's future is to lift the cap on the payroll tax. As it happens, the public supports not just repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, but also lifting the payroll cap (see our recent poll on this question).
Combined with economic growth and bringing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to a close, those two revenue measures would address much of our long-term fiscal issues. Adding a public option to bring down health care costs and empowering Medicare to negotiate on drug prices would go even further.
Nonetheless, the discourse on fiscal policy too often gets stuck on the question of cutting services as if cutting services represents the only way to achieve a balanced budget. It's not. And it would be nice to see polling outfits join us in asking the public about other options, such as the ones listed above.