-------------------Does the public want to pay down the debt?While the public believes paying down the national debt is a worthy goal, when it is stacked against other uses of the surplus, the public doesn't give it a high priority.For example, a January 1999 Pew Center poll asked people to choose among four uses of the surplus: paying down the debt, tax cuts, spending on domestic programs such as health and education, and making Social Security and Medicare financially sound.The result: a hefty 50% of the respondents chose helping Social Security and Medicare, 21% chose domestic programs, 14% chose tax cuts, and only 12% chose paying down the debt.Similarly, a February 1999 CBS/New York Times poll asked the public whether they preferred cutting income taxes, paying down the debt, or preserving Social Security and Medicare as uses of the surplus. A resounding 64% selected Social Security and Medicare, and only 14% expressed interest in paying down the debt. And cutting taxes - consistent with the discussion above - brought up the rear with a meager 12%.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Does the public want more spending?In a word, yes. Indeed, the only context in which they don't want more spending is when government programs are put forward in a vague and unspecified way as a use for the surplus.This is nicely illustrated by a July 1999 Pew Center poll that asked the public what they wanted to see done with the portion of the surplus not used to shore up the Social Security system. Did they want to see it devoted to a tax cut or to funding new (unspecified) government programs? By a wide 60% to 25% margin, the public declared themselves in favor of a tax cut.However, the same poll asked respondents whether they preferred a tax cut or spending on programs for, specifically, education, the environment, health care, crime-fighting, and military defense. The result: by an overwhelming 69% the p...
