A MAJORITY of voters believe that public servants should be asked to take a pay cut in response to the crisis in the public finances, according to the Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll.
The poll also showed that spending cuts rather than tax increases are favoured by a majority to deal with the crisis, but they also believe that the cuts announced in the Budget were too tough.
When asked if public servants should follow the example of the Taoiseach and his Ministers, who took a 10 per cent pay cut in the Budget, to ensure there would be no reductions in public services, 53 per cent said they should take a pay cut, 40 per cent said they should not and 7 per cent had no opinion.
Fianna Fáil voters are most strongly in favour of a public service pay cut by almost two to one, but a clear majority of Fine Gael, Labour and Green Party voters also share this view. Only Sinn Féin voters feel that there should not be a reduction in public service pay.
There was a degree of uniformity across class, regional and age categories in favour of a public service pay cut, with the only exception being the 18 to 24 age group, who are against it.
When voters were asked if the Government should place more emphasis on spending cuts or tax increases to deal with the financial crisis 52 per cent opted for spending cuts, while 32 per cent backed tax increases and 16 per cent had no opinion.
This view is shared across all social classes and regions.
People in all age categories, including the over-65s, also opted for spending cuts rather than tax increases. Supporters of all political parties, except Labour, who are almost equally divided, also take this view.
The poll was conducted last Monday and Tuesday among a representative sample of 1,000 voters in face-to-face interviews at 100 sampling points in all 43 constituencies. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 per cent.
When voters were asked if they were prepared to pay more in taxation to ensure there is no reduction in public services the result is a little closer, with 49 per cent saying they are not prepared to pay more in tax while 43 per cent say they are and 10 per cent have no opinion.
There are interesting variations in the response to this question across age, class and region. Some of the categories most strongly in favour of spending cuts are prepared to pay more tax themselves, while those opposed to spending cuts are not in favour of tax increases for themselves.
Voters in the most well-off AB social category, which is most strongly in favour of spending cuts, are far more willing to pay more tax to protect public services than any other group. The strongest resistance to paying any more tax comes from the least well-off DE social category.
In regional terms Dublin voters are prepared to pay more tax but those living in the other three regions are not, with people in the rest of Leinster being most opposed.
In an apparent contradiction, voters are also strongly of the opinion that the Budget designed to deal with the serious crisis in the public finances was too tough.
When asked to rate it, 63 per cent said it was too tough, 10 per cent not tough enough, 21 per cent about right in the circumstances and 6 per cent had no opinion.
The response to this question was prompted by the particular measures in the Budget announced last month which caused so much controversy.