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The Limits of Public Support for Fiscal Consolidation:Survey Evidence From Great Britain
Bremer, Björn Cavaillé, Charlotte De Blok, Lisanne De Vries, Catherine E.
Bremer, Björn
Cavaillé, Charlotte
De Blok, Lisanne
De Vries, Catherine E.
Title / Series / Name
Comparative Political Studies
Publication Volume
Publication Issue
Pages
Editors
Keywords
budgetary trade-offs
Europe
fiscal consolidation
public opinion
Sovereign debt
survey experiments
Sociology and Political Science
Europe
fiscal consolidation
public opinion
Sovereign debt
survey experiments
Sociology and Political Science
Files
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/29078
Abstract
In many European democracies, fiscal consolidation is back on the agenda. A common claim is that electoral constraints—stemming from public resistance to tax increases and spending cuts—limit policymakers’ ability to pursue deficit reduction. However, recent research suggests that public support for fiscal consolidation may be stronger than previously thought, calling this line of reasoning into question. This paper re-examines the issue in the British context. We find that, while a majority of respondents express support for fiscal consolidation in principle, only a minority prioritize it when faced with concrete trade-offs. Moreover, voters appear receptive to counter-narratives portraying public debt as sustainable and fail to link high debt levels to future economic hardship, undermining claims that this pro-consolidation minority will grow as fiscal conditions worsen. Overall, support for consolidation appears too shallow to generate pro-consolidation electoral incentives, even in a high-debt context. We discuss implications for future research.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2026-04-16
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.1177/00104140261431821