As most Americans know, the United States is in the middle of a serious recession with no end in sight. The country currently have 8.4 million less jobs than it did in early 2007, and there's little hope of restoring those jobs in the near future. But whose fault is it? Who is to blame for the terrible economy?
If you've heard President Obama lately, then you know that he and most other Democrats still blame George Bush, who was in office when the recession started. They blame his cutting of taxes while radically increasing spending. But Republicans say that since Barack Obama has been in office for a year now, he is to blame for the current condition of the economy. They blame him for being a big spender.
But regardless of who Democrats and Republicans blame, the important thing is who does the general public of the United States blame. To answer this question, the New York Times/CBS News poll did a new survey which they released last Friday. Between February 5th and 10th, they surveyed 1,084 people, and their survey has a margin of error of 3%. Here is who the American people blame for the economy's problems:
Bush Administration.....31%
Wall Street.....23%
Congress.....13%
Everyone.....10%
Obama Administration.....7%
Then the survey asked an interesting question. Who should be blamed if economic conditions don't improve? Here's what they said:
Bush and congressional Republicans.....47%
Obama and congressional Democrats.....45%
As CNN polling director Keating Holland said, "The public still tends to blame the Republicans for current economic conditions. But looking forward is another matter. Americans think the GOP is responsible for getting us in this mess, but they think both parties are responsible for getting us out of it."
yeah, like that's going to happen
ReplyDeleteThere's no denying that the Republicans played a major role in getting us into this economic mess. But the question is, with the Democrats in control of both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue since January 20, 2009, when does it start becoming their problem?
ReplyDeleteNo reasonable person can expect the problem to be turned around in a year. But for better or worse, the voters are going to have to make a determination this November. Some already have (New Jersey, Virginia, the New York's 23rd Congressional District and Massachusetts). For far, the Dems are 1-3.
CNN makes a good observation when they say that "Americans think the GOP is responsible for getting us in this mess, but they think both parties are responsible for getting us out of it." The mood of the country isn't just anti-Democrat; it's anti-incumbent too. If you're both, you're really in trouble (just ask Patrick Kennedy, and most recently, Evan Bayh).
I think we'll be seeing a lot of new faces in Washington next year.