What Americans Really Think About Sequestration

There's not much of a political lesson in a poll out this morning showing that people support federal budget cuts, but just not to the military: Differentiating between decision-making in the abstract and specific examples, after all, is a hallmark of American politics.

The Washington Post/ABC poll at issue consists of two questions: Do you support a five percent across-the-board cut in federal spending? and, Do you support an eight percent across-the-board cut in military spending? To the first question, a majority of respondents, 61 percent, said yes, cut the federal budget. To the second, no: 60 percent oppose cutting the military that substantially. The Post's takeaway? "The American public likes the idea of cutting federal spending; what they don’t like are actual cuts in federal spending."

Read the rest of this article at TheAtlanticWire.com.