Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, the vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association, explained the blowback from voters as a part of the “disconnect between the philosophy of smaller government” and the nuts-and-bolts reality of paring back spending.

“There’s this inherent disconnect between what governors have to do and what people might want to see in the very short run,” McDonnell told POLITICO. “You have to have the courage to do the right thing and then be able to withstand the criticism until the results show up.”

Rutgers-Eagleton poll director David Redlawsk went further, suggesting that voters don’t “have a really good sense of what significant cuts really mean.”

“It’s hard to really tell if voters are serious about this idea of a conversation,” said Redlawsk. “You present the budget, you’ve now given people things specifically to focus on … As you hit somebody’s sacred cow, you make them unhappy.”