A new Elway Poll found that most people surveyed think the state's $5.7 billion budget shortfall can be made up through budget cuts, spending freezes and "money from somewhere."

Only 40 percent of the 404 registered voters surveyed said the Legislature would have raise taxes to balance the budget.

When asked a similar question last year, 54 percent of respondents said lawmakers would raise taxes to help balance the budget. And the Legislature indeed passed hundreds of millions in new taxes last legislative session, although many of those increases were repealed by voters last month.

This is the first time Elway included "money from somewhere" as an option for poll respondents. Nearly 1 in 5 of those polled said lawmakers will find the extra money to balance the budget without a tax increase. Thirty-seven percent said the Legislature will rely on budget cuts.

The tax-increase option is largely out of reach this year, because voters approved an initiative in November that requires a two-thirds vote of lawmakers or a vote of the people to raise taxes.

The survey, conducted Dec. 2-5, has margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

The state faces a $1.1 billion shortfall for the current fiscal year, which ends next June, and at least a $4.6 billion shortfall for the next two-year budget.

Asked to choose between higher taxes or cuts to six specific budget categories, most poll respondents favored cuts to parks and recreation, higher education, and public safety to help balance the budget. But a majority supported higher taxes over cuts when it came K-12 education, social services and health-care for the working poor.

On the cuts side of the ledger, the largest majority ( 63 percent) favored reductions to parks and recreation. Fifty-three percent supported cuts to higher education while 51 percent favored cuts to public safety.

Meanwhile, 56 percent favored tax increases to protect K-12 education and social services. Half of those surveyed supported higher taxes to fund the state's Basic Health Plan, which provides coverage to the working poor.

Not surprisingly, the results broke along party lines. Most Democrats preferred tax increases over program cuts, while most Republicans supported cuts rather than tax increases. Independents were more split.