Public Wants Deficit Reduced Mostly, But Not Exclusively, With Spending Cuts

One reason for President Obama to be so aggressive in offering to do deficit reduction primarily on the spending side is that his position commands overwhelming support this way:

To clarify something, I've seen a few non-insane people who think they agree with the Republican position because the looming expiration of the Bush tax cuts means increased taxes are already baked into the cake. That's a mistake. What's under discussion is raising taxes relative to current policy rather than relative to the current law assumption that that the tax cuts will expire.