The Era of Big Government

More poll stuff:

More broadly, 43 percent of those surveyed said they would prefer a larger government that provided more services, which is tied for the highest such number since The Times and CBS News began asking the question in 1991. But an identical 43 percent said they wanted a smaller government that provided fewer services.

So the numbers are tied, but focus on the trend. Americans are notoriously hostile to big government in the abstract but tend in practice to favor expanded government services when you get down to specific examples. Parity on the abstract question is huge, and the change over time is striking. But of course you can be riding high in 1991 and then the mood shifts by 1993.

Comments

Americans typically poll in the 60th percentile as preferring more government spending and lower taxes. This is called the irrational voter theory; that there is at least a sizeable chunk of the American electorate that is completely irrational. They want more government, less taxes, and they are in favor of balanced budgets. In short, there are many stupid Americans. Should surprise no one...

Posted by freddiemac | April 4, 2008 10:01 AM

They want more government, less taxes, and they are in favor of balanced budgets.

Don't we all? How in the world is that irrational?

Have you considered that maybe those are stupid polls? Until you frame the issue with proper constraints and limitations it seems natural that people would choose to pursue all of their goals. Why not ask more specifically about some of the tradeoffs (i.e. balancing specific taxes against specific government services and a balanced budget) and see how people come out?

As an aside, I am constantly annoyed that the exact same sort of questions get asked of political candidates, and they give the same sorts of responses that your polls show voters giving: "Of course I'll give you all the services you want, and cut taxes, and balance the budget. Huzzah!" No halfway competent media person should ever let a candidate get away with that bullshit, but they routinely do. Hound those fuckers until they stake out a position on some real tradeoffs. Find out where their priorities really lie.

Posted by J.B. | April 4, 2008 10:18 AM

Sorry, this is a non-starter by any standard. Reverse the question and ask about taxes - everyone is in favor of higher taxes - on someone else. And everyone is in favor of larger government as long as they get something - for themselves. Just as Presidential candidates buy votes by telling constituencies that they will "do _______ for them".

It's a handout contest; and you buy into it. Very progressive....

Posted by robertl | April 4, 2008 10:38 AM

What J.B. said. There seems to be no end of polls that "prove" the American people are idiots, which seems very reassuring to those who consistently fail to win support for their wacky policy ideas at the ballot box.

Posted by Robert Powell | April 4, 2008 10:39 AM

J.B.,

"Don't we all? How in the world is that irrational?"

It is irrational to want two things that are contradictory. If a>b and b>c then a>c. In this case voter preference goes contra the transitive property.

Furthermore, your argument that we should want less taxes and more government is really stupid and non-sensical. One need only look at the last 7 years of W. Bush's policies to see that the irrational voter has been put into policy action. Bush has run up huge budget deficits, increased entitlements by their largest amount since LBJ, and cut taxes. He gave voters what they want, which is huge budget deficits, that voters are now unhappy about. Of course Bush is promising balanced budgets too: once he leaves office. One need only look at the empirical evidence to see that there is a large segment of stupid in the voting electorate, which polls and elections both demonstrate reasonably well.

Posted by freddiemac | April 4, 2008 11:23 AM

from swimming freestyle:

Two disappointing and, undoubtedly, related statistics. And stinging indictments of a Bush Administration that is so ideologically bent on deregulation, they've given up any stewardship of the American economy. As a consequence, we continue to drift towards an economic downturn European analysts refer to as depression-like while Mr. Bernanke dances nervously in Congressional hearings afraid to say the "R" word and President Bush goes AWOL to a NATO conference. It will require some real Houdini like moves on the part of the Administration and their minions to squirm out of accountability for this gigantic mess.

Democrats need to loudly remind voters the consequences of leaders allowing outdated and disproven ideological considerations to interfere with the business of managing the government and the, now obvious, implications for the American people.

Loudly. Very loudly.

http://swimmingfreestyle.typepad.com

Posted by Jay McDonough | April 4, 2008 12:48 PM

That's a particularly disturbing poll. All hail the new era of even bigger government and mediocrity. Why bother thinking for yourself anymore, when the government can do all the thinking for you.

Posted by LT Nixon | April 4, 2008 1:48 PM

"Americans are notoriously hostile to big government in the abstract but tend in practice to favor expanded government services when you get down to specific examples."

If one of those specific examples happens to be an explanation of how much their taxes will rise, than many of these Americans will change their minds I think.

Posted by John | April 4, 2008 6:52 PM

FWIW we have a huge federal government. The problem is the vast majority of that government is dedicated to Defense related apparatus. Buying tanks and F-22's and servicing thousands of useless nuclear missiles is pretty fucking stupid. We need to slowly begin the process of decreasing the funding for the defense industries to bring it more in line with the actual threats that face this country, while returning that money to citizens in the form of either infrastructure (light rail, for instance) or just giving it to the states to let them spend it on people in a more effective and democratic way. Our country is just to vast and populated to continue to allow a cabal in D.C. run that much money and power.

Posted by Derek Sutton | April 5, 2008 2:12 AM