Reason Foundation Poll Results

From The Reason Foundation:

The new Reason-Rupe poll finds 52 percent of Americans believe politicians are exploiting the Sandy Hook tragedy, 61 percent of the public favors cutting defense spending to pre-9/11 levels and 49 percent say reducing all federal spending to Clinton-era levels would help the economy. The Reason-Rupe national telephone poll of 1,000 Americans (conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates) finds:

Guns
- 52 percent of Americans believe that elected officials are exploiting the tragedy for political gain, while 41 percent feel elected officials are acting responsibly. 71 percent of Republicans and 60 percent of independents think the tragedy is being politicized, while just 32 percent of Democrats believe so. 

- 51 percent of Americans say people "should be allowed to own assault weapons," while 44 percent say people "should be prohibited from owning assault weapons." 68 percent of Republicans and 57 percent of independents say assault weapons should be allowed, just 33 percent of Democrats agree. 70 percent of 18-to-24 year-olds and 58 percent of 25-to-34 year-olds say "assault weapons should be allowed."

- 27 percent of Americans say the federal assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 would've helped avoid the Sandy Hook tragedy and 67 percent say the ban would not have helped avoid the shooting.

Spending
- 79 percent of Americans believe the government's spending increases have reduced the quality of life or made no impact on the quality of life in the country. 40 percent say the increases in federal spending over the last 20 years reduced the quality of life in the country and 39 percent say the increases had no impact on the quality of life. Just 17 percent feel federal spending increases have improved the quality of life in America.

- 49 percent of Americans say it would help the economy if the federal government returned to Clinton-era spending levels, while 30 percent believe it would make no difference and 12 percent think returning to those spending levels would hurt the economy.

- 61 percent support cutting military spending back to the amount that was spent before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, while 25 percent oppose such a reduction.

-When asked, open-ended, how much money the federal government wastes, the median response was that that the federal government squanders 50 cents out of every tax dollar.

- 64 percent of Americans say Congress should not raise the debt ceiling and 29 percent say it should be raised. If Congress does not raise the debt ceiling, 25 percent expect it would create a "major" economic crisis, 30 percent think it would cause a "minor" economic downturn and 22 percent say it would help the economy.

- 75 percent of Americans consider the national debt a "major problem" that must be addressed now, 20 percent say it is a major problem that should be addressed when the economy has improved and just 3 percent of Americans say the debt is "not much of a problem."

- 66 percent of Americans oppose raising the retirement age from 65 to 67.

- 56 percent oppose means-testing Social Security and/or Medicare.

President Obama and Congress
- 52 percent approve of the job President Barack Obama is doing and 42 percent disapprove. The public is split over how the president is handling the economy, with 48 percent approving and 47 percent disapproving.

- Just 17 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing and 74 percent disapprove.

- 53 percent of Americans say Congress had a negative impact on the economy last year and just 10 percent think Congress made a positive impact on the economy.

The Reason-Rupe poll conducted live interviews with 1,000 adults on mobile (500) and landline (500) phones from January 17-21, 2013. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 3.8 percent. Princeton Survey Research Associates International executed the nationwide survey.

The full poll results are available here:
http://reason.com/assets/db/13595247487633.pdf
http://reason.com/poll
http://reason.com/blog/2013/01/30/52-percent-of-americans-say-sandy-hook-i
http://reason.com/blog/2013/01/30/79-percent-of-americans-say-federal-spen