Majority of Americans Support Passage of Stimulus Plan

January 28, 2009 1:42 PM | | Comments (1)

As President Barack Obama tries to win over reluctant Republicans on his economic stimulus plan, a slim majority of the American public wants to see Congress pass the roughly $800 billion package of new government spending and tax breaks. According to a Gallup Poll on Tuesday, 52 percent of the nation's adults favor congressional passage of plan and 37 percent are opposed, while 11 percent have no opinion.

A Diageo/Hotline poll conducted Jan. 21-24 put support for the stimulus plan at 54 percent to 34 percent even if it means increasing the federal deficit.

Lobbying for and against the bill has intensified in recent weeks.But despite all the focus on the plan, public opinion on the subject is virtually identical to where it stood three weeks ago. A Gallup Poll conducted Jan. 6-7 found 53 percent of Americans in favor of Congress passing a major economic stimulus program (then estimated at $775 billion) while 36 percent were opposed.

In the Diageo/Hotline poll, 27 percent said tax cuts for businesses to crfeate jobs was the most important part of the stimulus plan, 17 percent cited spending on local governments and local school districts, 15 percent named spending on alternative energy technology and 14 percent said tax cuts for individuals.

Fifty-seven percent are confident the stimulus money will be spent wisely if the legislation is passed and 41 percent are not. Sixty-five percent are confident the package will be effective in stimulating the economy and 32 percent are not.

However, when it comes to the bailout plan for financial institutions, voters said spending that money was a bad idea by 56 percent to 13 percent.

More from CQ Politics

Categories: Diageo/Hotline Poll, Economy, Gallup

Tags: Stimulus

    Comments

  1. Why do the Republicans seem to hate normal Americans.. they spout this Country First, Patriotic nonsense yet when it comes right down to it they really don't care.. they seem to be only out for themselves.

    We the people, rejected the Republican's ideals and ideas in the last 2 elections, why do they think we still want them to put them forward now. Someone in the media need to just tell them to sit down and shut up and pass the darn thing.

    I am so angry with Chris Matthews right now, after his letting Dick Armey insult Joan Walsh yesterday and I am not alone. He shouldn't have had to let Bob Herbert call him out on it, Chris should have done it himself...but he didn't. That was sad on his part.

    Posted by: Annette Author Profile Page | January 29, 2009 7:41 AM

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