This is pretty mind-blowing.
In 2008, the American National Election Study asked folks if Uncle Sam spent too much, too little, or about right in 12 areas.
the respondents who identified themselves as “conservative” or “extremely conservative” had little appetite for specific spending cuts.Very few conservatives said they favored reducing (or cutting out altogether) spending on any program. The least popular program proved to be childcare — with a grand total of 20 percent of conservatives saying they’d slash it. The most popular is highways; only 6 percent want to cut spending there. Even bugaboos like welfare and foreign aid fare well, attracting the ire of only 15 percent of conservatives. Amazingly, the survey found that, on average, 54 percent of them actually wanted to increase spending.
As John Sides points out, if you polled activists you might get different results. But for the conservative base? Keep your government hands off my Medicare!
