Why Cutting Spending Is Hard

Drawing on data from a recent Economist/YouGov poll John Sides made the above graph (click to enlarge). He notes:

The programs that make up the largest share of the federal budget are typically the ones that the fewest people want to cut....As you move downward, into categories of spending that are increasingly popular, you get to the largest federal programs, particularly entitlement spending. Really, there is only one area of federal spending national defense that is sizable and that even a modest fraction (22%) is willing to cut.