Heritage Foundation Cites Poll Discrediting The Policies It Advances

In a blog post today, the Heritage Foundation's Kim Holmes argues for increased military spending and defends his position by claiming that defense "is not the culprit of our budget woes, and it shouldn't bear the brunt of the Obama Administration's efforts to look fiscally responsible."  Holmes notes that public opinion is on his side.  He writes:

According to a new NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, cutting defense is as unpopular as raising payroll taxes to fund Medicare. A solid 57 percent of adults say it would be "unacceptable" to reduce spending on national security and defense weapons systems.

The poll that Holmes' cites is interesting not so much for the fact that it seems to support Heritage's position on military spending but because it undermines the group's policies vis-à-vis taxes, entitlements and public education.  For instance:

72% of adults support increasing taxes on multinational corporations
55% of adults support raising taxes on those making more than $250,000
65% of adults oppose gradually the Medicare eligibility rate from 65 to 70 and then tying future increases to life expectancy
78% of adults oppose reducing federal spending on public education

On all these issues, public opinion comes out against the position that the Heritage Foundation champions (lower taxes, entitlement reform and privatization of education).  And even on the military question, the results don't actually support Heritage's agenda.  It's not at all surprising that the majority of Americans would oppose cuts to national security and defense weapons, but the results don't support an increase in spending, either.  Furthermore, the cuts that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has pushed for and which Heritage opposes deal with wasteful spending in unneeded bureaucracy and overhead.  As the Washington Post notes:

While congressional scrutiny is appropriate, such knee-jerk reactions are shortsighted; as Mr. Gates pointed out, savings from cuts in the bureaucracy may well be recycled into the construction of more Navy ships at Virginia shipyards. If Congress is serious about deficit reduction -- and about preserving U.S. military strength -- it should support Mr. Gates's efforts.