Conventional wisdom suggests public opinion on government spending boils down to views on social welfare programs. We challenge this using open-ended survey data.

Data & Methods: Original survey with open-ended responses analyzing partisan perspectives.

Key Findings:

* Public associations with spending span diverse government functions, not just welfare.

* Substantial divergence exists between Republicans and Democrats on specific government activities.

* Even opposing partisans (e.g., those wanting less spending) envision different government roles.

This reveals fiscal conflict extends beyond ideological lines into distinct partisan conceptualizations of government. The findings have implications for understanding party differences more broadly.