April 21, 2010
Bush Still Gets More Blame for Economy Than Obama
Of the three party groups, only Republicans say Obama bears more blame than Bush
by Lydia Saad
PRINCETON, NJ -- More than a year into Barack Obama's presidency, Americans are more likely to say George W. Bush is responsible for today's economic problems than they are to say Obama is responsible. Gallup shows a significant uptick since last July in the percentage of Americans blaming Obama at least a moderate amount (from 32% to 50%), but little decrease (from 80% to 75%) in the percentage blaming Bush.
Proportionally, the gap in perceived culpability for current economic problems is even wider when one looks at the percentage blaming each president "a great deal" -- 26% for Obama and 42% for Bush.
Obama has stated that he "inherited the most profound economic emergency since the Great Depression." And while some of his critics dispute the extent of the crisis, there is little debate that he arrived in Washington amid rising unemployment, struggling equity and housing markets, distressed banking and auto industries, and a rapid retreat in consumer spending. Americans in July 2009 clearly recognized that the nation's economic problems preceded Obama's term; at that time, close to half of Republicans (43%) -- in addition to most independents (63%) and nearly all Democrats (92%) -- believed Obama bore little or no responsibility for them.
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http://www.gallup.com/poll/127472/Bush-Gets-More-Blame-Economy-Obama.aspx