Americans Want To Cut Spending, But Polls Show They Don't Agree How

Jon Terbush | February 8, 2011, 8:30AM

When Congress looks for ways to trim the federal budget, they might want to be careful of how closely they listen to their constituents. That's because several polls have shown that Americans are typically terrible estimators of how much money the U.S. spends on particular areas of the budget -- suggesting that public opinion about potential cuts is often influenced by gross misconceptions.