(Image Source: New York Times ) BY JOHN O’CONNOR ANCHOR JASMINE BAILEY As pressure mounts for Congress to strike a deal before going over the so-called fiscal cliff, Senate Democrats are finding themselves divided on how exactly to broker a compromise. WSYR explains . “Some are strongly against cuts to entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid, even if Republicans agree to raising taxes. President Obama has said that any compromise must spending cuts and tax increases … ”  There is a growing consensus among Senate Democrats that cuts in popular social security programs should be taken off the table. But Democrats near the center are saying the party must be willing to consider cuts to the programs in order to get concessions from Republicans on increasing taxes for the wealthiest Americans. A contributor for The Huffington Post says social security programs and Medicare are irrelevant to the fiscal challenge at hand because the spending is a long-term problem that can only be fixed with structural changes. “Reducing benefits or raising the eligibility age in the heat of an artificially contrived fiscal crisis is the wrong way to proceed. Obama's Affordable Care Act will keep Medicare at roughly its present level of spending relative to GDP -- too high, but not an imminent catastrophe.” But a blogger for Policy Shop says there are legitimate reasons for including Social Security cuts in the fiscal talks. “ … it is pretty much inconceivable that any fiscal bargain amid divided government will not include spending cuts of some kind … some additional spending cuts must happen.”  President Obama has already said any plan must include tax increases as well as spending cuts. And according to a recent CNN/ORC poll , the majority of Americans agree. According to the poll released Monday, “ … a solid majority of respondents -- two thirds -- support the stance that any agreement should include a mix of spending cuts and tax increases. Of that total, Republicans favor such an approach by 52%-44%.”  According to another CNN poll, 45 percent of Americans would blame Republicans if the government is unable to avoid the fiscal cliff. Thirty-four percent said they would blame President Obama.