A majority of voters believe child benefit payments to better-off families should be scrapped, a poll conducted ahead of next week's Budget has found.
Chancellor George Osborne is expected to target tax credits and other middle-class benefits on Tuesday in what will be one of the harshest economic packages for decades.
The Government's poverty adviser, Labour MP Frank Field, has said he is opposed to means-testing child benefit - which costs taxpayers around £11 billion a year.
But a survey by ComRes for a Sunday newspaper found the public backed stripping them from wealthier families by 53 per cent to 42 per cent - including 47 per cent of Labour voters.
The poll - which showed the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition partners making gains on Labour overall - found less support for removing winter fuel payments from better-off pensioners.
It also pointed to potential flashpoints between the supporters of the two power-sharing parties over the need for deep public service cuts to deal with the UK's record £155 billion deficit.
