Bush Gets Brunt of Blame for Recession

October 6, 2009 1:51 PM | | Comments (0)

In the “who’s to blame for this lousy economy?” sweepstakes, more than half of voters believe former President George W. Bush should bear the blame, while more than a third say it’s President Obama’s fault, says a Rasmussen survey conducted Oct. 2-3.

In the telephone poll of 1,000 likely voters, 55 percent blamed the current financial situation on a recession which began under Bush, while 37 percent said the troubles stem from the policies President Obama has put in place since taking office.

Most voters trust their own judgment more than the president’s when it comes to economic issues affecting the nation: 59 percent trust themselves, 29 percent trust Obama more and 12 percent are not sure.

Broken down along party lines, 78 percent of GOP voters and 72 percent of independents trust themselves more, while 55 percent of Democrats have more confidence in the president.

Little more than a third, 36 percent, said the $787-billion economic stimulus package approved by Congress in February has helped the economy; still, that’s the highest level of confidence yet measured.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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Categories: Rasmussen Reports

Tags: Bush, Economy, Obama

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