The survey of 400 registered voters conducted for the Las Vegas Review-Journal found 35 percent support tax increases. Eleven percent said there should be a combination of tax increases and spending cuts.
Twenty-five percent of Democrats favor spending cuts, while 58 percent support tax increases. Seventy-seven percent of Republicans back spending cuts, while 9 percent favor tax increases.
Among non-partisans, 61 percent support spending cuts and 30 percent prefer tax increases.
The poll was conducted Monday and Tuesday by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research of Washington, D.C. It has a margin or error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
Pollster Brad Coker of Mason-Dixon said the results were not surprising.
"Given this economy, people don't want higher taxes," he said.
Nevada has among the highest foreclosure and jobless rates in the nation. Nine percent of all home loans in the state were in foreclosure, and its jobless rate jumped to 12.5 percent in July.
Thirty-nine percent of those surveyed said school funding should be the top priority, far outdistancing economic development, which was next at 15 percent.
Gov. Jim Gibbons has said he may have to call a special legislative session because of the recession and declining revenues.
The Review-Journal poll also found that 50 percent of Nevadans oppose federal cap-and-trade legislation designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and reverse global warming.
Forty-two percent of those surveyed support the legislation, while 8 percent were undecided.
Twenty-one percent of Democrats and 81 percent of Republicans oppose the carbon caps. Fifty-seven percent of non-partisans are against the legislation.
Coker attributed the opposition to the poor economy.
"I don't think they (lawmakers) have made a compelling case that this bill is going to help the economy, and some could argue pretty strongly that it could hurt the economy," he said.
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