few Americans~, says they have a thorough understanding of the ongoing debt limit negotiations, about two-thirds of American adults say they are extremely concerned about how the country’s economy would be impacted if the country’s debt limit is not raised and the government defaults on its obligations.
According to the study, around 6 in 10 people want any increase in the debt ceiling to be accompanied by negotiated measures for lowering the government budget deficit. The way President Joe Biden and congressional negotiators on both sides of the aisle are approaching negotiations, however, is more likely to be seen negatively than positively by the public. The approval of Biden’s handling of the matter is still marginally higher than that of congressional Republicans. 27% of respondents approve of Vice President Biden, 26% of congressional Democrats, and 22% of congressional Republicans. Each is disapproved of by nearly half. A default would probably be catastrophic for the American economy, with global repercussions, and would almost certainly result in a recession.
This week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen issued a warning that a national default would result in the loss of jobs and businesses as well as the “likely” nonpayment of millions of families, including Social Security recipients, veterans, and military families, who depend on federal payments. There is also little agreement on measures that might make a dent in the deficit, according to a recent AP-NORC poll: Although the majority of people in the country believed that the government spends too much overall, spending on well-known and expensive programs like Medicare and Social Security should be raised.
Republicans and Democrats express similar levels of awareness and interest in the negotiations, and both parties share a common concern that the economy would suffer from a U.S. default. However, only 6% of Republicans agree that the national debt limit should be raised without restrictions, compared to approximately a third of Democrats. Only 7% of Democrats agree that the debt ceiling should never be raised, compared to 23% of Republicans.
A 33-year-old Democrat from San Jose, California named Aaron Loessberg-Zahl believes the debt ceiling should be raised unconditionally and that the statutory borrowing cap is “arbitrary.” Loessberg-Zahl asserted that Congress already has sufficient control over spending because they approve the annual budgets for our government.
He deemed the discussion of whether and how to raise the debt ceiling “not productive” and stated that he was pleased with the way the president handled discussions. According to Loessberg-Zahl, “My belief is that those people probably don’t understand the full ramifications of what would happen if the country were to default.” The majority of American adults—2 in 10—say they are watching the debt ceiling negotiations extremely or very closely, and 4 in 10 say they are following them moderately closely. Similar to this, roughly 2 in 10 people claim to comprehend the situation extremely well, while 4 in 10 claim to understand it reasonably well.
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