Fiscal cliff deadline update: New Gallup poll shows Americans want deal to avert fiscal cliff

As the deadline nears for Congress to reach an end-of-the-year agreement to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff, a new poll released Wednesday indicates Americans feel a sense of urgency about the situation.

According to the USA Today/Gallup poll, 82% of adults say it's either extremely or very important for Congress and the president to find a deficit-reduction deal to prevent a massive amount of tax hikes and spending cuts from kicking in at the beginning of next year.

A majority of Americans -- 68% -- say both parties should compromise equally. However, 14% of adults said Senate Democrats and the president should compromise more in the negotiations. An equal number took the opposite stance, saying Republicans should be the ones who make more concessions.

Three percent of adults, meanwhile, say neither party should compromise.

Asked, however, what they think will actually happen, more Americans -- 21% -- said Democrats will likely compromise more, whereas 15% said they expect Republicans to compromise. Just over a quarter -- 26% -- said both will compromise equally, while a plurality -- 34% -- said neither will likely make concessions.

The Gallup poll comes one day after a Pew Research Center poll showed about half of respondents believe Congress will fail to reach an agreement, while only 38% said a deal will be met. If the two sides fail to find common ground on reducing the deficit, 53% said congressional Republicans will be to blame while 29% said the responsibility falls on the president.

For the survey, Gallup interviewed 1,009 adults by telephone from November 9 to November 12. The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.