Burning Question: What parts of government would you cut?

A recent Economist/YouGov poll found that Americans are a lot more comfortable with cutting spending than raising taxes to reduce the federal budget deficit. But when it comes to figuring out exactly what to cut, things get sticky.

Everybody's favorite target, it seems, is foreign aid. But that consumes less than 1 percent of the budget. And the problem goes even deeper than that, notes John Sides at The Monkey Cage. Polling and budget data show that across the board, "the programs that make up the largest share of the federal budget are typically the ones that the fewest people want to cut," he writes.

Along with foreign aid, the top candidates for spending cuts are the environment, housing and agriculture. But they make up a relatively small percentage of the budget. On the other end of the spectrum, big ticket programs such as Medicare and Social Security are widely considered untouchable, but account for big slices of the spending pie.

About the only area where a significant percentage of people (22 percent) are willing to consider cuts in a large segment of the budget is national defense.

Why It's So Hard to Cut the Federal Budget
(The Monkey Cage)

Burning Question is a recurring feature that looks at key issues and compelling stories being explored at other publications and social media sites.