A majority of people surveyed are concerned about the government's ability to fund promised pensions and that taxes will be raised to meet these obligations, according to the Reason-Rupe polling organization.

There is as much as a $4 trillion gap between what states have promised their public workers in retirement pensions and what they've actually set aside and invested in order to pay for them, according to Reason-Rupe.

A recent telephone survey of over 1,000 adults by the organization, which explores citizens attitudes towards the government, found that Americans want pension reform solutions that push public employees to play a greater role in their own retirements rather than relying on taxpayers.

In order to fix pension funding problems, 82 percent of Americans favor requiring current public employees to contribute more towards their own pensions and benefits.

While 71 percent of those polled oppose reducing pension benefits that are currently being paid to retired public employees, 67 percent favor shifting future public employees from guaranteed defined-benefit pensions to 401(k)-style retirement accounts.

Those surveyed opposed raising taxes (74 percent) and cutting government services (77 percent) as a way to remedy the problem.

And over three-quarters (78 percent) said taxpayers should get to vote on pension increases for government employees.