Still Reagan’s America: Most want less government and taxes

It has been 42 years since President Ronald Reagan presented an economic plan that would be sneered at by liberals as “Reaganomics.”

A mix of big tax and spending cuts, the plan succeeded quickly, and by 1983, world leaders were asking Reagan for his recipe for the “American miracle” while they gathered at the ninth G7 economic summit held in Williamsburg.

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“I could tell our economic program was working when they stopped calling it Reaganomics,” the Gipper said.

Today, President Joe Biden has taken a different approach, bragging about “Bidenomics,” and Democrats wish he would give it up because voters associate it with high prices, taxes, and bloated government.

So it should be no surprise that the Reagan formula is still favored by most voters, an ominous message for the White House as it enters the 2024 presidential election year.

A majority of voters prefer the Reagan model to Biden’s, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports survey shared with Secrets. By a 52%-38% margin, likely voters said they prefer a “smaller government with fewer services and lower taxes.”

And at a time when the Biden administration is leveling the heaviest burden of costly regulations on Main Street and Wall Street, most people also said that Biden is not spending their tax dollars smartly.

When asked, “Does the government spend taxpayers’ money wisely and carefully?” 72% said “no,” and 16% said “yes.”

“By a 14-point margin, most voters still prefer a limited-government agenda,” Rasmussen said.

As with most political matters, the partisan split was huge in the survey, less so among independent voters who prefer lower taxes and small government.

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“Republican voters (74%) overwhelmingly prefer a smaller government with fewer services and lower taxes, as do 30% of Democrats and 55% of voters not affiliated with either major party. A majority of Democrats (58%) prefer a more active government with more services and higher taxes, as do 21% of Republicans and 32% of unaffiliated voters,” the analysis said.

Rasmussen added, “Democrats (31%) are much more likely than Republicans (10%) or unaffiliated voters (6%) to say government spends taxpayer money wisely and carefully. Even among Democrats, however, a majority (52%) believe government does not spend taxpayer money wisely and carefully, a belief shared by 84% of Republicans and 81% of unaffiliated voters.”