re: Would you vote for a candidate who ran on a “major cutbacks to lower deficit” platform?

I would vote for such a candidate and actively support them, but I truly believe absent some major calamity that caused a major shift of opinion, this type of candidate would never win on a grand scale. Maybe they would win a random house race.

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Reel in Social Secirity spending.

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I'm going to start a separate thread on this, but while this is needed to prevent even more problems in the future, it's not going to help much today.

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A candidate who promised to:
Make significant cuts to military spending.
Reel in Social Secirity spending.
Stop the practice of using tax returns as a handout.
Tax reform - flat tax or some variant - that closes all loopholes.
A likely necessary across-the-board tax increase.
Gov aid only to those unable to work.
No more private industry incentives.
Etc.

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For one thing, this candidate would have a snowball's chance in hell of winning. These ideas, however well intentioned are political suicide. Beyond that let's say he did win, this candidate can't unilaterally introduce these cutbacks. He'd need Congress to get on board and that's unlikely for both sides of the aisle. Congressional "conservatives" aren't actually conservative.

~The war caucus would never get on board with military cuts. You see how they reacted to Trump wanting to bring troops home after 20 years in a useless conflict.

~Democrats damn sure aren't for spending cuts and entitlement reform. They'd oppose it and then use it as a campaign platform.. "Those heartless Republicans want to destroy our welfare system and gut social security that you've paid into."

~Every move made by a politician is calculated toward reelection. Who among them is going to have the guts to push Social Security off the cliff its teetering on?

70% of our spending is on entitlement programs. Cut that wasteful shite and we’re good.