More than 6-in-10 Americans would support the Senate’s recently passed National Security Supplemental containing security funding for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan if it does not add to the debt and deficit.
WHY IT MATTERS – Republicans in the House of Representatives have refused to take up the bill largely because of the lack of spending cuts in the bill.
- The results suggest Republicans have public opinion on their side and could back the Democrats into a corner if they produce a version of the security bill with spending offsets.
HOW TO USE THIS DATA – The results show a language and legislative approach that would earn broad bipartisan support from the American people for the Senate’s bill.
Click on the image below to read the full report…or read the summary below.
Defeating Putin > Helping Ukraine
- A series of split sample questions testing support for a “security bill to defeat Putin, destroy Hamas, and deter China” or a “foreign aid bill to help Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan” revealed higher support for a security bill (48%-41%) than foreign aid bill (43%-47%).
- The largest differences in support for the security bill version of the question occurred with Democrats (+8), whites (+8), and Baby Boomers (+7), though there was more support for the security bill with all demographic groups.
- New Majority voters were 6-points more supportive of the security bill (42-47) than the foreign aid bill (36-54).
More Spending is a Major Objection
- A plurality of Americans say they would support a security bill (42%) if it didn’t add to the debt and deficit. This includes 40% of those who previously said they did not support the security bill.
- Combined with those who say they would support a bill even if it did add to the debt and deficit, more than 6-in-10 Americans would support a security bill (66.7%) that that was paid for with spending cuts.
- This includes strong majorities of Republicans (60%), Democrats (75%), and swing voters (70%).
Potential Candidate Matchups
- The strongest potential candidate matchup for Republicans on the issue is a GOP candidate who supports a security bill ONLY IF it does not add to the debt and deficit, versus a Democrat who supports one EVEN IF it adds to the debt and deficit.
- In this potential matchup, the Republican candidate gains 3 points from the generic ballot, while the Democrat loses 11 points. That’s a 14-point swing in favor of the hypothetical GOP candidate.
- The largest gains in support for the Republican candidate come from Democrats (+11), single women (+12), Hispanics (+8), Gen Z (+8), and Millennials (+8).
- A different candidate matchup of a Republican who opposes the security bill and Democrat who supports it causes both candidates to lose support compared to the generic ballot, but the Republican loses more (-6%) than the Democrat (-3%).