Politicians in Washington vowed to reduce federal spending levels in the coming year, and some students seem to agree, according to a survey conducted by The Maneater on Monday.

The survey sampled 183 students in the MU Student Center and is meant to represent the sample size, not the university as a whole.

Fifty-six percent of the sample size said they believe the federal government should cut or reduce spending. Twenty-one percent of students said the government should not cut spending, and 26 percent said they were unsure or had no opinion.

“I would say that Social Security is where they should cut it the most because my parents have been talking about that,” MU freshman Taylor Joyce said.
“It would be affecting me more so than them.”

MU Professor of Political Science Marvin Overby said the people who receive the benefits in question of being cut are the ones who come to fight.

“That’s the problem you have, is that whoever’s program is going to get cut, those are the ones who are going to mobilize to try to defend it,” he said.

MU junior Taein Park said he does not feel education should be cut because the United States is behind other countries in academics.

“I know (President Barack) Obama already cut the defense, so I think that’s a good way to go forward, ” Park said. “Also, if government still has to support and fund Wall Street or big corporations, definitely, it should be cut.”

In a New York Times poll, when asked what they would cut with the choices of education, roads and bridges, science and medical research, aid to the unemployed and poor or no opinion, 34 percent of all respondents said they would cut funding to roads, bridges and infrastructures.

The poll found 13 percent of Republicans sampled and 7 percent of Democrats sampled would support cutting education over other programs.

“Unfortunately, it is something you tend to see. And the reasons for it are a little obscure to me,” Overby said.

However, Overby also said he would not take the poll’s numbers at face value.

He said most of the federal budget the government has to pay is non-discretionary spending, or costs that the U.S. cannot opt out of paying, such as interest on the national debt or entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

“If these things were easy, they would’ve been done already,” he said.

Of the students sampled by The Maneater, 32 percent said they would cut defense spending, 14 percent said they would cut funds to go to Medicare and Medicaid and 11 percent said they would cut funds going to Social Security.

“I think eventually we’re going to have to talk about some sort of package that is a mix of tax increases and program cuts,” Overby said.

He said it is the Michelob Light theory-American want a great tasting beer without the calories.