Here’s the deal.  We really do hate big government.  Ask anyone, and they’ll say they do.  Which is why it’s a dumb question.  Because nobody thinks of the programs they see as important as big government.  They think of them as just really important programs.  The best analogy I can think of is to say that nobody says, sure I support cutting people open, because they don’t think of surgery as cutting people open.  That’s necessary and somehow different.  Anyways, the poll analysis here:

And yet the door doesn’t seem completely closed on that sale either. Like many surveys, this poll found more support for specific government actions than for government intervention as a broad principle. Despite the overall skepticism about government’s contribution to economic advancement, a quality education ranked just behind hard work, ambition and health when people were asked what factors contributed most to personal economic success. Even more telling, the poll found substantial majorities believed an assortment of discrete government policies could widen opportunity. Fully 81% of those polled, for instance, said policies to keep American jobs at home could be “very effective” in improving economic mobility; 75% said making college more affordable would also be very effective. Majorities of at least 60% said the same thing about reducing health care costs, expanding pre-school, widening job training, helping small business, and facilitating retirement saving-all Obama priorities. Cutting taxes, the main Republican alternative, ranked a clear step behind with just over 50% calling it very effective.