While
some Republican presidential candidates have called for increased defense
spending, a new survey shows that a majority of American voters would actually
decrease it by at least $12 billion.
They
would also cut the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and one aircraft carrier, showed
the survey, which was conducted by the University of Maryland's non-partisan
Program for Public Consultation, between Dec. 20 and Feb. 1.
"There's been some surprise that there
hasn't been more support for increases, particularly on the Republican
side...given how much the Republican candidates have emphasized that," said the
survey's director, Dr. Steven Kull.
In the
survey, a representative sample of approximately 7,000 registered voters across
the country were given detailed, non-partisan information vetted by
congressional staffers and experts about the 2016 defense budget.
The
majority trimmed the 2016 defense budget by $12 billion, including cutting $4
billion for ground forces, $3 billion for nuclear weapons, $2 billion for air
power, $2 billion for naval forces and $1 billion for missile defense.
The
budget for special operation and the Marines were untouched, but no area was
increased.
"They
look at all the numbers and they just have a sense about you know, how much to
spend," said Kull, who is the president of Voice of the People, a non-partisan
group working to give citizens more influence in policy making.
Broken
down by political affiliation, the majority of Democrats would cut the defense
budget by $36 billion, while the majority of Republicans left the defense budget
as is, and the majority of independents would cut it by $20 billion.
African
American respondents cut the budget $34 billion, and Hispanics cut $20 billion,
the survey showed.
The
results of the survey were briefed on Monday to some of the offices of lawmakers
for the eight states whose voters participated, which included California,
Florida, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Virginia.
The
desire for decreased defense spending was despite a growing concern among the
public about the threat from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
"If
people were really worked up about it, you would have expected to see some
support for increasing [defense spending]," Kull said.
What
mattered more to the survey participants was cutting the nation's budget
deficit, he said.
"It's
quite clear that Americans are concerned about the deficit and that seems to be
the driver," he said. "So it's interesting how little discussion there is in the
campaign about reducing the deficit, given how much the public seems to be
interested in bringing that about."
"We're
not talking about deep cuts, you know, some modest cutting," he added.
While
voters nationwide did not call for increased defense spending, Kull said that
Florida -- where GOP presidential contender Sen.
Marco
Rubio (R) is from -- was an
exception among Republican voters.
"In
Florida there was some support for modest increases," said Kull. Rubio has
called for a large increase in defense spending if he were to become president.
Kull said his Senate office was briefed on the survey's results.
While
the majority of participants would cut the F-35 and an aircraft carrier, they
would continue to fund the planned Long Range Strike Bomber and not reduce the
number of 12 planned submarines to eight.
In
addition, the majority of participants also favored keeping 5,500 U.S. troops in
Afghanistan, versus withdrawing all of them by the end of the year.
The
survey's report can be found
here
