The Hill Poll: Voters unconvinced that debt deal will be reached

A big majority of voters do not believe their politicians will truly get the nation’s debt under control, even as President Obama and congressional leaders work on the issue this weekend.

Almost 3 in 4 voters — 71 percent — say they are either not very confident or not at all confident that the body politic will get a real grip on the debt problem. Only 27 percent expressed some level of confidence that they will.

Democrats are, relatively speaking, much more optimistic than Republicans. Forty-seven percent of Democrats express some degree of confidence that a deal will get the debt under control, a bullishness that is shared by a mere 11 percent of Republicans.

Voters are more likely to see Congress in general as overly rigid rather than spineless. Fifty-one percent of likely voters believe members are too unwilling to compromise, according to The Hill Poll. But a sizable proportion — 35 percent — assert that those members are too keen to compromise.

Parties are split over that question, with Republicans more likely to see too great a willingness to compromise than Democrats or independents. Fifty percent of Republicans say Congress is too willing to do so, while 69 percent of Democrats and 53 percent of independents say they are not willing enough to deal.