Pro or anti-austerity, which is more important?

Is it me or is the way the IT reported their latest poll very strange? The headline was:

Third of voters say €3.1bn budget target should be retained

The subhead:

Irish Times poll reveals 50% in favour of lower retrenchment

And the text starts:

More than one-third of voters accept the need for sharp fiscal cuts, saying the Government should stick with or increase the €3.1 billion target in Budget 2014, according to opinion poll findings for The Irish Times and Ipsos MRBI.

Followed by:

With the budget due on Tuesday week, 50 per cent of respondents said the Coalition should retrench by less than €3.1 billion.

And then:

In spite of a number of austere budgets, 32 per cent said this target for 2014 should be maintained, and 4 per cent said the Government should go higher than €3.1 billion. Some 14 per cent did not know.

It really is an odd to place the 32% ahead of the 50%, isn’t it? But the problem is a majority of voters don’t accept the need for sharp fiscal cuts (on top of others over the past five or six years, almost needless to say).

There’s been talk of soft social democracy and it’s interesting to consider the following:

The poll suggests a majority of Fine Gael voters would maintain or increase the €3.1 billion target. Some 46 per cent believe the Government should meet this objective and another 4 per cent would increase it.

Some 41 per cent want a lower adjustment. Among Labour and Fianna Fáil voters, there was but a small majority for less retrenchment; 45 per cent of Labour voters want the Government to go below €3.1 billion, but 35 per cent said the target should be delivered. Some 7 per cent would increase it. While 50 per cent of Fianna Fáil voters would reduce the €3.1 billion, 37 per cent would meet the target, and 5 per cent would increase it.

Only Sinn Féin voters were overwhelmingly in favour of lower retrenchment; 67 per cent seeking an adjustment below €3.1 billion.