UCI

State Budget Solutions

Asked how they would prefer to solve the state government’s projected $8 billion budget deficit, Orange County residents are almost evenly divided between using a combination of spending cuts and tax increases (39%) and using spending cuts alone to solve the problem (36%). Fewer than one in 10 residents say they would prefer to deal with the deficit by borrowing money and running a deficit (8%) or by raising taxes alone (7%). By comparison, our September statewide survey showed that Californians as a whole favor a mix of spending cuts and tax increases over spending cuts alone by an
11-point margin (42% to 31%).

Likely voters in Orange County are evenly split between spending cuts alone and a mix of tax increases and spending cuts as their preferred method for resolving the state’s budget deficit. However, there are strong partisan differences: More than half of Republicans (53%) would prefer that the budget deficit be reduced primarily through spending cuts, while nearly half of Democrats (48%) and independents (49%) would prefer a mix of spending cuts and tax increases. The preference for solving the budget deficit primarily through spending cuts increases with age, education, income, and homeownership. Whites (41%) and Latinos (28%) differ significantly in their preference for relying primarily on spending cuts.

“The state government faces an $8 billion budget deficit in the upcoming fiscal year.
How would you prefer to deal with the state budget deficit?”

Since three in four Orange County residents prefer spending cuts as part of the solution for resolving the budget deficit, and four in 10 think that spending cuts alone can erase the $8 billion shortfall, do they believe that these state budget reductions would have a noticeable effect on services? Three in four local residents (75%) and likely voters (78%) think that the state could spend less and still provide the same level of services. By comparison, a similar seven in 10 Californians (70%) and likely voters (71%) held this opinion in our September statewide survey. In Orange County, the belief that the state could spend less with no impact on services increases with education and income and is more common among Republicans (85%) than Democrats (64%), conservatives (82%) than liberals (64%), and whites (79%) than Latinos (64%).

The perception that reductions in spending would have no effect on services is less evident in the case of local government. Still, six in 10 Orange County residents (63%) and likely voters (60%) believe that their local governments could spend less and still provide the same level of services. Similar results were evident in the September statewide survey. Once again, perceptions among county residents vary by political party, but whites and Latinos hold similar views on the effects of spending cuts on local services.

Among the 75 percent of Orange County residents who think that the state government could cut spending without reducing services, six in 10 believe that the state could maintain current service levels as long as it cut less than 20 percent of its expenditures. As for the 63 percent who think that the local government could spend less, seven in 10 think that the same level of services could be maintained if the cuts were less than 20 percent. Similar results were evident in our recent statewide survey. Democrats are less inclined than others to believe that state spending cuts are possible without reducing services. However, political groups hold similar views on the effects of spending cuts at the local level.

“How much could the state government cut its spending without reducing services?”
(asked of those who say the state government could spend less)

“How much could local government cut its spending without reducing services?”
(asked of those who say the local government could spend less)