OPINION POLL:THE FINDINGS of the Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll on the attitude of voters to the financial crisis facing the State have thrown up some surprising and apparently contradictory results.
It appears that voters want to see the Government implementing spending cuts rather than tax increases but they believe the cuts in the Budget were too tough.
This contradiction may be explained by the fact that voters were giving their verdict on the particular cuts in the Budget package which were widely regarded as unacceptable, particularly in the health area.
However, in another apparent contradiction, the majority of voters are not personally prepared to pay more in taxes to ensure there is no reduction in public services.
The better-off AB voters are the only ones who are prepared to pay more tax to ensure there is no reduction in public services although this same category of voters believes that the Government should place the emphasis on spending cuts rather than tax increases. A clear majority of all voters believes the Government should place more emphasis on spending cuts to deal with the financial crisis, with 52 per cent opting for spending cuts and 32 per cent for tax increases.
There was no great variation in these views across social classes, age categories or regions.
There is an interesting variation in terms of party support with 45 per cent of Labour voters saying the emphasis should be on raising taxes while 43 per cent of party supporters said it should be on spending cuts.
Supporters of all other parties were decisively in favour of cuts.
There are big differences on the question of whether people were prepared to pay more in tax themselves in order to ensure that there was no reduction in public services. The most well-off AB voters are prepared to pay more in tax, by 55 per cent to 39 per cent.
The C1 lower middle-class category are also prepared to pay but by a tiny margin of 48 per cent to 47 per cent.
However, skilled working-class voters are not prepared to pay more, by 53 per cent to 39 per cent, while the least well-off DE voters are against by 54 per cent to 37 per cent. Farmers say no by 49 per cent to 40 per cent.
Most people agree that public servants should follow the example of the Taoiseach and his Ministers and take a pay cut. There is agreement on this issue across class, regional and age categories.
In party terms Fianna Fáil voters are most strongly in favour of a public service pay cut by almost two to one but a clear majority of Fine Gael, Labour and Green Party voters also share this view.
Only Sinn Féin voters feel that there should not be a reduction in pay.
The majority of voters thought that the Budget, which was designed to deal with a serious crisis in the public finances and the economic downturn, was too tough.
Some 63 per cent thought the Budget was too tough, 10 per cent thought it was not tough enough, 21 per cent said it was about right in the circumstances and 6 per cent had no opinion.
The lowest level of support for the notion that it was too tough came from the better-off AB voters with the least well-off DE category most strongly of the view that it was too tough.
Among party supporters the Green Party was the only one where a majority felt it was about right or not tough enough.
There is no great difference across age categories with over-65s slightly less inclined than middle-aged people to say it was too tough. Some 69 per cent of women thought the Budget was too tough, compared to 57 per cent of men.
