


While he is under attack from activists on the Left and the Right for the debt deal he cut with President Joe Biden, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) may have drawn up an agreement that voters will like.
Two polls just shared with Secrets indicate that what people wanted most was a deal that froze or cut spending in return for raising the debt ceiling so the nation doesn’t default on its loans.
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In the deal, McCarthy and Biden agreed to reduce nondefense discretionary spending for a year. It allows for a 1% increase next year, though that would likely be less than inflation, essentially making it a freeze or a cut, according to reports.
It also suspends the $31.4 trillion borrowing limit until January 2025.
People overwhelmingly wanted a spending cut deal, according to surveys from Rasmussen Reports and the Trafalgar Group, though some of the details of the agreement remain up in the air.
Both polls were conducted before McCarthy and Biden agreed to a deal over the weekend, so they do not evaluate the deal’s results but rather give a road map that the two sides have apparently followed.
The most recent survey was Rasmussen’s, conducted May 24-25. In that, 54% of respondents said they would be OK with a partial government shutdown if the deal did not include a spending cut or freeze.
Even more people, 57%, were concerned the lack of a deal would “lead to the United States defaulting on its debt payments.”
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In its analysis, Rasmussen phrased it this way: "38% of likely U.S. voters would rather have Congress avoid a partial government shutdown by authorizing government spending at a higher level. However, 54% would prefer a partial government shutdown until Democrats and Republicans can agree to either cut spending or keep it at its current level."
The Trafalgar survey, conducted for the Convention of States in early May, found that 37% were OK with raising the debt ceiling if the deal included spending cuts. It also found that 22% were dead set against any increase, while 40% were supportive of a debt ceiling increase without spending cuts.