Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Polls are with Obama (USAToday, NBC, WAPO/ABC)

Obama made folks mad yesterday about the auto industry, but the fact is that many Americans are standing with him. As we all know, the problems of this economy did not pop up as a surprise, but was there for a very long time. Getting out of all this mess and with many companies now wanting a bailout to sustain, will take time. Not everyone will be saved, look at the auto industry. GM or Chrysler is going to fall and that means with no help from the government into bankruptcy. That is just a fact. While folks may be hopping mad, overall the poll numbers are with Obama.

The number of Americans who believe that the nation is headed in the right direction has roughly tripled since Barack Obama's election, and the public overwhelmingly blames the excesses of the financial industry, rather than the new president, for turmoil in the economy, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

At this early stage in his presidency, Obama continues to benefit from a broadly held perception that others should bear the bulk of responsibility for the severe economic problems that confront his administration. Americans see plenty of offenders, but only about a quarter blame the president and his team for an economy that's in the ditch.

[snip]

Overall perceptions about the country parallel a rapid increase in the percentage of Americans who say the economy is improving. For the first time since late 2004, the gap between the numbers saying the economy is getting better and those saying it's getting worse is in the single digits (27 percent to 36 percent).

Two-thirds of Americans approve of the way Obama is handling the country's top job, and six in 10 give him good marks on issue No. 1, the flagging economy. Those figures are little changed from last month. But he receives lower marks for dealing with the federal budget deficit after submitting a plan that would see continued huge deficits over the next decade. Fifty-two percent back Obama on his approach to the deficit, with the public split about evenly over whether belt-tightening or big increases in spending should be used to try to improve the economy.



WAPO/ABC Poll
NBC Poll
USAToday/Gallup

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