By
Gabe Rubin
August 6, 2015 at 3:25 pm ET
An overwhelming majority of voters—70 percent—say that their concern over the national debt has increased in the past few years, according to a new Morning Consult poll. While a majority of both parties expressed concern, voters who identify as Republican significantly outpaced Democrats 87 percent to 55 percent.
Despite the debt concerns among Republican voters, GOP leaders in Congress aren’t prepping for an all-out debt fight this year. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made a concerted effort to return the Senate to “regular order” after several years of countdowns to government shutdowns or debt defaults. To wit, he told reporters on Tuesday that finding a funding mechanism for the government and avoiding a shutdown were his top priorities after the August recess.
“Let me say it again: no more government shutdowns,” McConnell said. “We have divided government. … At some point we’ll negotiate the way forward,” referring to his stated willingness to negotiate appropriations proposals with the White House.
Democratic politicians, perhaps reflecting the lower level of concern about government debt levels among their supporters, have pushed for a budget deal that would remove austere caps on spending that were imposed during the tumultuous debt ceiling fight of 2011. President Obama has said he will veto any appropriations bill that maintains caps on domestic spending but allows defense spending to rise, as some Republicans have proposed.
With McConnell pledging to negotiate with Democrats over next year’s government spending levels, it is unlikely that he would turn around and take on an even tougher fight about the debt ceiling. His own voters might be disappointed.
The poll was conducted July 23 through July 27 among a national sample of 1,979 registered voters. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.