Half of all Americans ‘not at all familiar with the supercommittee’
The fate of the supercommittee is dominating the debate in Washington, but the Americans public remains largely unaware that the deficit-reduction committee exists in the first place. According to a new poll conducted for Politico/George Washington University, nearly 50 percent of the public said they were “not at all familiar” with the the work of the supercommittee:
(Politico)
That said, the Politico/GWU poll raises the question of whether even Washington insiders understand how the supercommittee works. The poll — conducted jointly by the Tarrance Group, a GOP firm, and Lake Research Partners, a Democratic one — asserts that the supercommittee’s failure “will trigger across the board spending cuts to the federal budget to both domestic federal spending, including Social Security and Medicare as well as defense spending.” That’s incorrect: Social Security and Medicare benefits are protected from the trigger.
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