Attitudes about budget deficits among partisans depends on the party of the president

More meat for our ongoing look at partisan polarization across the political landscape. The Monkey Cage provides evidence that attitudes about the budget deficit are not fixed.



It mattered more to Democrats when a Republican was president and to Republicans now while a Democrat is president. And it also matters more to people with high levels of information. Perhaps ignorance is bliss.

There's nothing new in this general observation. It's quite common. When we look at public opinion we'll look at the importance of the cues that people receive from political elites. We tend to want to make our opinions quickly, based on as little information we can get away with. So we turn to people we tend to trust that will help us determine what to think about political issues.