Debt ceiling negotiation: majority of Americans want conditions to reduce the federal budget deficit

Six out of 10 Americans are aligned with the Republican stance regarding the debt ceiling negotiation. According to a recent poll, 63% of those surveyed want a plan to reduce the federal budget deficit in a potential deal.

Considering the split between parties, 58% of Democrats favor raising the debt limit only if deficit reductions are included. That is to say, they agree with the GOP position. Only 38% support an increase in the limit without those conditions, while 7% do not even want the ceiling to be increased at all.

Among Republicans, 71% say they favor the conditional increase, compared to only 6% who approve doing it without any conditions. 23%, on the other hand, are opposed to any increase in the limit.

The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll also revealed that two-thirds of Americans are concerned about the impact a default could have on the economy. On the other hand, only 20% expressed indifference in this regard.

Negotiations

With June 1 as the potential deadline for when the government will no longer be able to pay its bills, legislators returned to the negotiating table after Friday's break.

Those negotiators need to find more common ground, according to the NORC and AP report. Americans disapprove of both Biden (48%) and the Democrats (45%) and Republicans (49%) in Congress. The survey, however, does not consider the latest negotiationd, since it was conducted between May 11 and 15.

Meanwhile, Biden is at the G-7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan. Although he did not comment for the moment, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre acknowledged that there were still major differences between the parties. She also questioned the Republicans' intentions to reach a "reasonable" agreement, although she was optimistic that a bipartisan deal would be reached.