RICHMOND -- Boosting taxes or tapping the state's "rainy day" reserve fund is not the way a majority in a new statewide poll wants the state's strained budget to be reconciled.

Fifty-six percent of those questioned in a Christopher Newport University survey said they prefer that the General Assembly and Gov. Tim Kaine slash state spending to offset a projected revenue shortfall.

When asked what they would cut first, 55 percent of the 700 registered voters questioned said it should be transportation funding, the legislature's signature achievement last year.

The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

The poll, reflecting growing concern over personal finances, was conducted by CNU's Center for Public Policy by phone Jan. 8-10 amid bad economic news as the 2008 legislature convened. The results were announced Tuesday, as the Dow Jones industrial average fell 465 points before finishing the day down 128 points.

The poll's central question about fixing the shortfall was presented to respondents as three options. Thirty-one percent favored Kaine's proposal to pair spending cuts on some programs with supplements from the reserve fund. Nine percent favored higher taxes to cover the difference without using the rainy day fund. Five percent didn't know.

Kaine, a Democrat, wants legislators to draw $261 million from the rainy day fund to help offset a projected revenue shortage of $641 million, leaving about $1 billion in the fund. He has not proposed any tax increases. He has said he would consider any legislation sent to him that generates additional revenue.

Kaine's press secretary, Gordon Hickey, said the poll was flawed because of the limited responses.

"The point is, the governor has cut $400 million already and is going to try to take money from the rainy day fund. It's a balanced approach and what he thinks is the best approach," Hickey said.

The House's Republican majority has been resolute against either rainy day fund use or new taxes. House Speaker Bill Howell said Tuesday, however, that if the nation's economy continues to decline and aggravates the state's revenue problem, using the reserves may become necessary. But cuts, he said, should come first.

Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw dismissed the poll, particularly the finding that most respondents would cut transportation funding first. Forty-one percent favored cutting social services first, and 27 percent said public safety should be pared first.

The strongest result reflected in the poll was for putting the job of redrawing the state's congressional and legislative districts every 10 years into the hands of an independent, bipartisan commission. Seventy-three percent agreed with that approach.

In Virginia, redistricting has always been handled by the General Assembly.