Plurality seen in Americans in terms of wanting to keep the defense budget about the same

 The Pew Research Center Says Plurality among Americans about this issue...

On 02/24/14 Bruice Drake of the Pew Research center wrote an article titled: Plurality of Americans support current defense spending. In this article, he outlined the data collected from the polls on this issue. The most notable results which I have displayed below are from 2 questions. The first one asked Americans When it comes to spending on national defense, do you think that U.S. spending should be increased, cut back, or kept about the same? The second question asked Americans In general does the United States rely on it's military to achieve foreign policy goals too much, too little, or about right. As you can see the first question is more relevant for discussion. Surprisingly enough Republicans and Democrats tended to agree that we are spending enough leading to an overall average of 47% of Americans thinking we are spending enough on national defense budget.

In my opinion, Americans mainly Democrats and Independents are starting to attribute military response in conflicts as the U.S. simply trying to assert it's foreign policy and financial interest. Though most Americans understand this is a necessity with 43% saying we rely on military strength about the right amount to achieve foreign policy. These results are very interesting and relevant to this discussion.
Link to article: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/24/plurality-of-americans-support-current-level-of-defense-spending/