So which is it America? In the Budget Deficit debate this is not Burger King---You can't have it your way.

The first poll shows 50% of Americans want the deficit reduced through spending cuts "only or mostly". The second one shows most Americans want to maintain the level of benefits for THE MOST costly Federal govt programs (look at the brown shaded portion of the pie charts). After these two polls is a pie chart of the Federal Budget and where money is actually allocated...Do you see any contradictions? Most want to cut spending, but not on the programs that disproportionately cost the most and cutting them would actually have the most impact on the deficit. 

Source: Gallup Poll

Source: Pew Research



Source: The Fiscal Times

 The parts of the Federal Budget that are considered mandatory spending programs---Social Security, Medicare, the Interest on the National Debt (this MUST be paid FIRST when bills are paid), "Security Discretionary" is National Defense/The Military. These three programs alone are 61% of the budget. It seems they are sacrosanct and immune to budget cuts.  Some of the other items in the chart are classified as mandatory spending, but for the sake of argument, let's leave them ON the budget cutting table. .  What do you cut?