The persistence of public ignorance about federal spending

The persistence of public ignorance about federal spending - The Washington Post:
"Christopher Ingraham of Wonkblog points out that a new Pew Research Center survey shows that most of the public is ignorant about the distribution of federal spending.
Only 20% realize that the federal government spends more money on Social Security than on foreign aid, transportation, and interest on the government debt. 
Some 33% believe that foreign aid is the biggest item on this list, even though it’s actually the smallest. 
It accounts for only 1% of the federal budget, compared to a whopping 17% for Social Security, which is one of the biggest federal outlays and has been for decades.

The Pew poll is consistent with numerous previous studies that reach similar results, consistently showing that the public massively overestimates foreign aid spending, and underestimates spending on big entitlement programs, such as Social Security and Medicare.
British voters are misinformed about their own government’s budget in much the same way.

Ignorance on this point has a significant influence on politics and policy.
A large percentage of voters implicitly assume that we can solve the federal budget crisis simply by cutting unpopular foreign aid programs, without raising taxes or touching entitlements. 
That makes it politically difficult to address our looming fiscal crisis (in which Social Security and other entitlements are major factors) in a realistic way."