As Washington fights over a way to pay for a ballooning federal deficit, Americans remain deeply opposed to any cuts to entitlement spending. By a two-to-one margin, they want to raise taxes on the rich instead, according to a new poll.

A McClatchy poll of nearly 1,000 voters released earlier this week found eight out of 10 respondents opposed any cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. By comfortable majorities, the public also opposed reducing military spending or raising the federal debt as ways to deal with the budget deficit.

Instead, Americans want to raise taxes on incomes of more than $250,000. Nearly 64 percent supported such measures. Only 33 percent were opposed. These figures moved slightly to favor raising taxes on higher earners after President Obama mentioned it as a deficit-fighting strategy in a speech last week, McClatchy said.
The poll, conducted from April 10-14, hit 1,084 registered voters. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.

America faces a nearly $14.3 trillion deficit. On Monday, ratings agency Standard & Poor's sent shock-waves through financial markets after it warned it might have to downgrade the United States' credit rating if the country couldn't rein in spending.

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