A just released poll finds that nearly four out of five likely voters in Florida want Congress to find an alternative to “sequestration” budget cuts before the November elections.
According to a Harris Interactive online poll conducted on behalf of the Aerospace Industries Association, 77% of likely Florida voters are opposed to sequestration.
“We’ve always known that sequestration is bad policy. Now we know it’s bad politics as well,” said AIA President and CEO Marion C. Blakey. “This survey shows that opposition to these reckless cuts runs from north to south, from old to young, and from left to right — 77 percent opposition in Florida means the call to put an end to sequestration is bipartisan without doubt.”
What’s at stake if blind across-the-board cuts that are called for under the Budget Control Act of 2011, are undertaken? Some 79,459 jobs in Florida are on the line, including 35,626 at small businesses, according to AIA.
And nationwide, 2.1 million jobs are at stake from more than $100 billion in spending cuts in 2013, across defense and non-defense discretionary agencies.
“This survey reveals that the American voting public is waking up to the danger of sequestration to our economic and national security,” said International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers International President R. Thomas Buffenbarger. “Now is the time for politicians to put aside the Beltway politics that have failed America and come up with a balanced solution that protects our ability to respond to a national security threat. This crisis demands immediate action. We must not wait until after the November elections.”
The poll, conducted by Harris Interactive from August 9-15, surveyed 4,042 U.S likely voters age 18 years or older across five states likely to determine control of the White House and United States Senate next year.
