* Paul Simon Public Policy Institute poll…

The state of Illinois has a budget deficit of over 1.5 billion dollars. I’m going to read three statements that people have made about how to fix the deficit, and ask you which one comes closest to your views. If you haven’t though much about this issue just tell me that.

* Illinois’ public programs and services have already been reduced significantly. We can only fix the problem by taking in more revenue, such as a tax increase.

* The state takes in plenty of money to pay for public services, but wastes it on unnecessary programs. We can fix the problem by cutting waste and inefficiency in government.

* Illinois’ budget problem is so large it can only be solved by a combination of budget cuts and revenue increases.

* Haven’t though much about it.

More revenues 10%
Cuts to waste and inefficiencies 51%
Both cuts and revenues 28%
Haven’t thought much 6%
Other/Don’t know (not read) 5%

Since 85 percent of the state’s budget is made up of K-12 education, higher education, and health and human services, which one of these areas should be cut to make up the difference?

K-12 6%
Higher education 29%
Health and human services 17%
All of the above (not read) 3%
None of the above (not read) 32%
Other/Don’t know 13%

* From the press release…

“This year, as in years past, our poll shows the people of Illinois support spending cuts in the abstract, but are reluctant to endorse specific spending cuts. This underscores one of the essential reasons for our state’s seemingly intractable budget problems. The people of Illinois seem to be saying, ‘Please cut spending, but we have no idea of where to actually cut spending- and stay clear of the programs that we like’” said John Shaw, director of the Paul Simon Institute. […]

From 2011 to 2015, the percentage of voters believing that cuts were the answer to the problem dropped more than 15 percentage points, from 58 percent to 42 percent. That number has since flattened, and jumped to 51 percent favoring cuts in the latest poll.

“This is a perplexing phenomenon in Illinois public opinion,” said Charlie Leonard, an Institute visiting professor and one of the directors of the poll. “After more than a decade of cuts to public budgets, people can’t let go of the idea that there is $1.5 billion in waste to cut. We have written about this extensively before, but the persistent belief in cutting ‘waste,’ coupled with the inability to agree on solutions, means we’ll probably still be writing about it in the future.”

Methodology is here.