Most Americans believe that the automatic spending cuts that officially went into effect last week will affect them, according to a CBS News poll released Monday evening.
Fifty-three percent said they expect to be personally affected by the cuts, known as “sequestration,” while 39 percent said they will not be affected. The results comport with a Pew Research Center poll released last week that showed 70 percent of Americans saying that sequestration would have at least a “minor effect” on their personal finances. The Pew poll also showed that 62 percent of Americans thought the spending cuts would have a “mostly negative” effect on the economy, another parallel to Tuesday’s CBS poll.
From CBS:
Many Americans expect the budget cuts in the sequester to have a negative impact on the country overall. 46 percent expect the cuts will be bad for the country, because it forces cuts to important programs and services, while 34 percent expect them to be good for the country, because it forces the government to cut spending.
There are differences by party. Forty-six percent of Republicans expect the sequester to have a positive effect on the country, while 60 percent of Democrats think the impact will be negative.
Women (57 percent) are more likely than men (50 percent) to expect to be affected by the cuts in the sequester. Those with lower incomes are also more apt to think they will be impacted.
