Poll: Strong support for Obama's tax plan, opposition to GOP plan to cap deductions and cut Medicare

Langer Research for ABC News/Washington Post (PDF). American adults. 11/21-25. ±3.5%.

Overall, do you support or oppose...

...raising taxes on incomes over $250,000 a year:
Support: 60
Oppose: 37

...reducing deductions people can claim on their federal income taxes:
Support: 44
Oppose: 49

...raising the age for Medicare coverage from 65 to 67:
Support: 30
Oppose: 67

These numbers once again show that the path forward is abundantly clear: let the Bush tax cuts on income over $250,000 expire, keep major cuts to Medicare benefits off the table, and don't use tax reform as an excuse to take away middle-class tax benefits. In other words, Americans support President Obama's approach'not Mitt Romney's and certainly not the Republican Party's. Given that President Obama won the election, that's not exactly a shock.

The key thing to remember is that Congress doesn't need to do anything in order for Bush's upper-income tax cuts to expire'under current law, they end on December 31, 2012. The question is whether House Republicans will extend tax cuts on all income below $250,000 or whether they'll hold those those tax cuts hostage as punishment for the expiration of the high-income cuts. Given that 60 percent of Americans'and four in ten Republicans'support ending the high-income tax cuts, it's hard to imagine Republicans will ultimately choose to go down that path. If they do, it would be political suicide, but even if they don't, they still need to deal with the fact that their other ideas'especially proposing major cuts to Medicare'aren't exactly popular either.