Washington (CNN) - Nearly two years into the recession, opinion about which political party is responsible for the severe economic downturn is shifting, according to a new national poll.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday morning indicates that 38 percent of the public blames Republicans for the country's current economic problems. That's down 15 points from May, when 53 percent blamed the GOP. According to the poll 27 percent now blame the Democrats for the recession, up 6 points from May. Twenty-seven percent now say both parties are responsible for the economic mess.
"The bad news for the Democrats is that the number of Americans who hold the GOP exclusively responsible for the recession has been steadily falling by about two to three points per month," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "At that rate, only a handful of voters will blame the economy on the Republicans by the time next year's midterm elections roll around."
Thirty-six percent of people questioned say that President Barack Obama's policies have improved economic conditions, with 28 percent feeling that the president's programs have made things worse, and 35 percent saying what he's done has had no effect on the economy.
One reason for that, says Holland, may be the growing federal budget deficit: Two-thirds say that the government should balance the budget even in a time of war and recession.
The survey indicates that only 18 percent say the economic conditions in the country today are good, down 3 points from August. Eighty-two percent say economic conditions are poor.
"Some economic indicators may suggest that the economy has turned the corner - but try telling that to the American people," adds Holland. The number of Americans who say that the economy is in good shape - a number that grew steadily through the spring and summer - has now stalled, with fewer than one in five expressing a positive view of current conditions. More than eight in 10 say that economic conditions are in poor shape, with 43 percent calling them very poor.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted November 13-15, with 1,014 adult Americans questioned by telephone. The survey sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
–CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinahauser contributed to this report
Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn
From CNN Politics
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Really? Eight years of the worst administration and eleven months of the one right after and they are blaming the democrats.
Repugs – they all need to go to a sanitarium.
No surprise here: in our "instant gratification" era ... it seems like Obama has been President forever ... major problems and no quick solutions ... and now it is time for Obama to own the problem.,, and he will.
Interesting to note how few people state that they wish McCain/Palin were in charge ... or that McCain/Palin would be doing the job better. nndRemember McCain bragged about his limited economic knowledge ...and Palin might have quit by now ....
Not surprised...Just proves that idiocy, ignorance and impatience are still in vast supply here in the good ol' US.
It took George Bush nearly 8 years to destroy the economy. Why would it recover in less than a year? It's going to take years to emerge from this mess. Remember there was a huge surplus when GWB took office. He not only went through that, he dumped trillions into two useless wars, not to mention what amounts to the murders of our young men and women, and irreparable damage to the lives of those who have survived multiple deployments. We are all suffering because of the incompetence of the Bush administration.
As it should be. Obummer can't keep on blaming Bush for everything but please keep on doing it Barry.
The Bush administration turned the key on this one but it's the Obamians that slammed it into high gear and put the pedal to the metal. I believe their out to break all records and the country along with it.
How about putting the blame where it belongs; on greedy Americans. Greed lives on both sides of party afflilation and people living outside their means as well as those that prey upon people that live outside their means is responcible.
They're both to blame. Wake up people and vote them ALL out in 2010. If you think otherwise, you're blinded by the spirit of party.
i think these men,Holland and Steinhauser are bent on killing any credibility of this administration with their biased polling numbers.idonot understand why you guys R doing this.......Ah iguess it is because BHO is the POTUS. But this man intends only to help the helpless, bcos personally heis an accomplished man he does not need to get rich off the US TAXPAYERS bcos he is already self made......he is just helping. SO pls be sincere to Ur poor vulnerable fellow Americans by giving this Godsent POTUS a chance to clean-up Ur great nation. thank you.
The failed policies of the GOP is to blame for this mess. Period...plain and simple.
No doubt about it, disposal of nuclear waste is costly!
Chaulk it up to American short-term memory.
Because most americans are stupid and get there information from 10 second sound bites
It appears George Bush is being blamed less often.
He wishes to extend his sympathies to Sarah Palin.
this simply shows the fickleness and lack of lucidity of the American public. Republicans were in power for 2000-2008, controlled the House and Senate before that since the 'Republican Revolution' of 1994, went full speed ahead on the ill advised war and were hell bent on paying for the war withour raising taxes. The people reponding to this poll are morons with short memories
It would be very interesting to have the poll also state if the people questioned knew that the Democtats controlled the Congress for the last 3 years. Congress spend th emoney!!!
Of course it is. While the Democrats are busy with the business of cleaning up the mess "The Bush Years" left, including the recession, the Republicans are scurrying around like beetles on a dung heap blaming everybody but themselves and offering NO solutions to the problem. Pretty typical Republican behavior as of late. Unfortunately when you scream it loud enough and long enough people start to believe you, right or wrong. Remember...some of the people, all of the time...
This poll emphasizes the fact that most of the population is just not paying attention. People need to review the history of the Bush administration.
The Democrats had legislative control at the end of President Bush's second term. The second half of his second term is when things started to get bad. Of course, many voters only consider the affiliation of the President. I'm not going to say that it was the fault of either party necessarily, given that the world is in a downturn as well – we might be a superpower, but let's not be so arrogant as to say it was all our doing.
The question now becomes which party (or general political ideology) will get us out of the rut.
Fortunately for the Republicans, the American public, by and large, has the attention span of a 3-year old and the intelligence of a brick. How else can you explain why an administration that hasn't been in office for a year is taking the blame for policies that have been in effect for years?
I hate it when news outlets do this. They report something bad, blowing it out of proportion. Then they interview their viewers and claim that the original bad thing is even worse because now "the public" also thinks so. CNN is like Fox in that respect, they try to drag down President Obama by all means available to them that can't be called outright lies. Disgusting! Left wing media? Haven't seen any for years! Oh, and by the way, if you succeed in destroying everybodys confidence in the future, how will YOUR future look like?
Come the 2010 mid-term elections the republicans will blame the recession on the democrats. Funny, for the last two years the republicans have been saying there is no recession. How politically expedient of them.
For eight long and horrible years the republicans blamed Bill Clinton for every single thing that was wrong with this country. For the sake of the country I hope there will be more intelligent people than morons voting in 2010 and 2012.
Proof positive that Americans have a short memory, do not read, and prefer the quick stimulus of heated rhetoric and utter falsehood.
Anyone in DC listening? Quit printing $$$$ and spending $$$$ we don't have! This is not a blue or red issue.
If they are going to blame the Dems, they might as well hail back to the Clinton Administration policies where it all started
This just shows Americans are stupid. they expect everything to be fixed immediately. If we had protested Bush during the last 8 years or got rid of him in 2004 then perhaps we wouldnt have been in this mess. You get what you vote for and you all voted in Bush for two terms now reap what you sow.
I'm sure the GOP is ecstatic about this. The problem here is that under eight years of a Republican President who couldn't spell "competent" without flashcards, we went from record surpluses to the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression. We had a Republican-controlled Congress that, for six years, waived through every one of Bush's policies with a wink and a nod. Now, we have Congressional Republicans who have no ideas and solutions of their own and all they do is try to block legitimate efforts to fix a situation that they caused.
The situation we are in now took time to fester and it will take time to heal. People need to be patient and the GOP needs to own up to their disaster and work with others to fix it instead of constantly whining and obstructing. Then again, all they care about is power and will stop at nothing to get it back.
Wrong – Bush spent the surplus and took us into debt. He has his retirement and couldn't care less about this country and it's people.
GOP tax cuts tax cuts – where is the tax base with all the cuts he gave his wealthy friends? GONE
....That's why the public voted for "w" and the gop...They are clueless, and believe the world will end in 2012. Like they believed it will end during Y2K.......
This recession has it's roots in the 1980's, with the deregulation policies begun by Ronald Reagen, then built upon by Bill Clinton. There is blame on both sides, but never, ever forget, the chickens came home to roost on W's watch. Human beings must be regulated... they are a species that cannot be trusted.
Please President Obama has been handed a depression coming in the White House from President Bush. Please the GOP is the party of ;NO:
No meaning "NO JOBS, NO HEALTH CARE, and NO Votes on everything else!
Who was in charge 2 years ago and even earlier leading up to the recession? Who squandered a budget surplus from the clinton administration. I guess 10 months to cure us of the worst recession since the great depression is just unreasonable... People who vote republican get what they deserve... More war and isolationism and greedy tax breaks for the dirty stinking rich... Unbelievable...
You can't blame any particular party or person for this recession here in the US. Everyone had a part in making this mess, blaming one person or party is immature and childish to say the least. Why don't we grow up, get our heads out of the sand, and start being part of the solution. The president cannot do this alone, he needs OUR help as Americans. I know that some of you,right or left, might find what I said offensive, but as my mom says a lot of the time, "tough luck buddy." The first step that we can take to solve this mess as Americans is give Wall Street the parental spanking it deserves.
The Dem's have been in charge or congress for several years now. When are people going to realize that the economy is their baby? I bet that if you took a poll the day after the world came to an end, 30-40% would say it was George Bush's fault.
All this does is confirm that people are sheep. They see what is in front of their face. I'm a Republican and I could care less who the people want to blame for starting this. It is EVERYONE'S fault. We all got ourselves into this, so it's going to take all of us to work together to get out of it. From past trends, I can say that won't happen.
It started under the GOP. People need to realize that Obama inherited a double digit recession and it cannot be turned around overnight.
The Tax Payers are finally doing their own research into how the housing fisaco was started by Jimmy Carter and prepetuated by Bill Clinton,along with the Democratic Committees who were in charge of the oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac....Along with ACORN
With all the lies and hyprocisy of the Republican party and the likes of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Neal Boortz, and others, a lot of people believe exactly what they hear from the nut jobs and nothing else.
That is their main goal is to blame the Democrats and not to take any responsibility for any of this mess. Corrupt is what I call them. I don't like a lot of Democrats either but the Republicans level of hypocrisy is astounding.
Are you serious there is no one to blame except the banks that invested in those sub-prime mortgages. Stop with the BLAME GAME.
You wanted a third world government now you have it.
Stop with the blame game CNN. This recession happened under a Republican President and his failed economic policies. Period!
i cant believe it you guys have polls for everything!!!!!!!!!!! You live your life by polls how pathetic!
That's because they are both to blame. Re-elect NO ONE!!!!
the party in power ALWAYS gets blamed when times go bad so this is not really new. I will say this if the Republicans can turn this thing around and get back to where it was before they took over last time, then I'm all for it. Maybe they are keeping all the answers that they don't seem to have hidden until they get more control. We'll see.
Over the last 20 years, the Republicans have given us 2 Bushs with 3 Recessions, including the worst ever. Enough is enough!
Who to blame? That is just stupid, why is that when something goes wrong we are always looking to blame someone. We really just need to look at ourselves. We are all to blame for the recession. We all stopped buying local goods years ago and started shopping at Walmart and Meijer, all these stores have goods from China and Taiwan. If we would all be willing to pay a little more for an American made product and shopped locally it would bring the economy back, but the question is, is it too late?
We are yet to see the worst. When health care gets passed, the Chinese government will tighten up like a constpated mule. They will not buy anymore of our debt. They made that pretty clear to Obama on his visit.
That means no more loans, stimulus or government spending. Think California
Goldman Sachs. No one else.
the american public is fickle & dumber than a box of rocks.
We have such short memories. Both parties are to blame, none of them listen to the people who voted for them. They only help the lobbyist who donate to their campaigns'.
"Two-thirds say that the government should balance the budget even in a time of war and recession." and none of them are willing to pay more taxes. A nation of whining self-absorbed idiots that want someone else to pay for them.
Let's just make sure that we focus all the blame on the political parties, and not take any ourselves. Personal responsibility helps no one and it's way too difficult.
And while we're at it, let's make sure that we demand that all these problems that we had nothing to do with get fixed immediately, and in such a way that everybody else has to change their behavior.
For my part, I'm going to make sure that I listen exclusively to Glenn Beck, who only tells me the things that I want to hear.
People need to remember the last election was much about the economy.
We elected a president who told us straight up: its not going to be easy, and it will likely get worse before it gets better, BUT if we put our shoulders to the grindstone and work together we can pull our country out of this mess.
People need to just calm down, stop bickering, and let the President do the job we elected him to do!
We Americans are idiots; we really deserved a 2nd Great Depression in 2008, and we certainly deserve to lose the war in Afghanistan.
The Republicans spent 2001 to 2009 stealing us blind and doing NOTHING to solve our problems.
Yet after only one year, people actually think that Obama is to blame because he hasn't yet fixed everything.
Tha republicans are. My 401K took quite a dive in 2008.
It's actually going back up faster than I exspected. My son has also been called back to work. So yes I say the republican's are to blame for the recession because Bush put the U.S. into two wars that have been costly and unaffective. I see restaraunts and malls packed with people and plenty of people driving and clogging up the freeway's.
Thing's look like they are on the upswing to me........
this is easy....... The do nothing for the people, obstructionist, the republicans!
How quickly people forget how we got into the mess we are in.
DUH!!!! CNN is sooooooooooooo bright!!! Wooo – I am SHAKING IN MY BOOTS with FEAR that we are heading to a DEPRESSION.................NOT!!
What else is supposed to happen as we move further and further into Obama's administration and further away from Bush's?????????? President Obama also said that it WILL get worst before it gets BETTER!!! I believe the REPUBLI-CAN'Ts are more in trouble in 2010 than the Democrats because they are trying to capitalize on a situation that can ONLY get better..... WATCH!!
I have NOT seen ONE survey as to what President Obama has accomplished since being in office?????????? Where's that survey?
The economy is not bad. If you are still suffering from the economy then you had no plan to begin with and you should blame yourself. Stop waiting on other to solve your own problems...
Whose to blame?
The market and the people. The Politicians aren't really to blame. After all, we told them not to interfere with businesses. Not to limit the market. And not to tell us how to spend our (non-existent) money. They also can't fix it as fast as we'd like. After all, they can't make jobs, businesses do. Unless you want a socialistic government.
The Great Awakening of the American public has begun. Two thirds of American now relizes that Obama's policies on the economy have either done nothing or have made things worse. Chant for 2012: Bye, Bye Bama!
BOTH parties are responsible because neither party seems willing to balance the budget and operate within our means. George Bush didn't help and Barack Obama certainly isn't helping. And Congress (with a few exceptions) is a joke on both sides of the aisle. And the media doesn't help when they raise a panic everytime the GDP doesn't grow at an increasing rate. Until we elect fiscal conservatives, the economy will continue it's downward spiral. And if the GOP is serious about regaining any power in the federal government, they need to figure out how to return to their fiscal conservative roots.
The GOP will probably succeed because Dems appear to have absolutely no marketing skills while the GOP has a genius marketing machine.
People are idiots if they don't recognize the huge deficit that the GOP created over the Bush years. Clinton brought the deficit down to $5 trillion and Bush doubled that in 8 years with borrow and spend policies.
If voters expect Obama to turn that around in a few months, they'll be stupid enough to blame him and elect more borrow and spend Republicans who will simply dig the hole even deeper.
I'd like to think voters will be smarter this time and Democrats will do a better job of presenting the facts but history doesn't give me much hope of that.
Republicans convince voters to vote against their own best interest. It's astonishing.
Why is this always a political party issue? Obviously the financial sector of this country caused this recession and it took many years to reach the crisis state. So if you want to put a political spin on it then you have to trace everything back until you find which politicians passed the laws that let the financial sector run amock.
It makes sense that the Democrats would bear most of the blame. The party in power always bears the blame. Also, both Democrats and Republeicans have grown tired of the Obama adminstration trying to blame everything on Bush.
Fox and the wingnuts continue to obstruct efforts to fix this mess, and destroy health reform, but it will end up hurting the GOP in the long run. While they call the health plans out of the house and senate, "Obamacare," the GOP failure to help makes their plan, "Genocide," or, better yet, "Massacare."
Just another thing handed to the Obama administration as Bush exits the white house. Two ongoing wars, at BILLIONS per month hasn't helped either.
Well it's about time people wake up and place the blame where it belongs. This recession should have been over, but the Democrats and their tax and spend ways are preventing the recovery. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out.............and people are beginning to see through the medias cover ups for Obama and Co. Sorry, we are smarter than that.
George and his cronies spent eight years destroying the vibrant economy Bill Clinton left him. It's insane to think that Obama can undo that damage in less than a year.
Unfortunately, 85% of Americans have a real short term memory. Phil Gramm is the one who's most culpable for our economic downturn.
You can NOT cure 8 years of ignorance in 10 MONTHS. The ones that caused it should all resign!!! Since the GOP loves lobby money from their wealthy friends in insurance, outsourcing industrial ceo's, wall street, banking, and others;
how much would it cost us to buy you out and you all could go home?
How about setting a price.
Also how about those of you spending 1 million dollars a day to block insurance reform, put that money in to the free clinics around the country. Right now your greed is truly the DEATH PANEL. You say let them die, ignore them. It's not our fault they have 3 jobs but can't afford insurance. You are all slime!!!
People have short memories. Whoever is wielding the stick at the moment will be blamed for any pain.
the GOP can spin this anyway they want to but the Blame still falls on Bush/Chaney, his administration and the Republicans......they blame everything on someone else, they never take the blame.......look at Sarah Palin a good example........
The day Bush came into office we had a recent tech bubble burst and a recession, then 9 months later a terrorist attack with a worse recession. You will not find speeches from Bush blaming Clinton for the recession or the terrorist attacks. He said "we are in a recession"..."we need to improve the economy"..."we were not aware of the terrorist threat" ..."we have to be vigilent"....etc etc.
Ever since Obama is in office both he and Tim "tax cheat" Geitner refuse to take responsibility or ownership of the economy. They say Bush, Bush, Bush is to blame. They are wasting time blaming and not fixing the problem. They are screwing up and not taking responsibility. Obama needs to take responsibility for the economy and he needs to fire Tim Geitner. This is a world wide recession not a Bush recession. I wasn't crazy about Bush but I'm fed up with Tim and getting fed up with Obama. We need a third party that will be fiscally responsible.
The rhetoric will work no more, for time has shown that nothing has worked and, indeed, gotten worse. In October alone, the deficit was $176 billion (just one month). The national debt has exploded and will skyrocket with such things as health care. While problems escalate in all areas, consumer confidence is dismal. If China stops buying our securities, the administration cannot dump more money out the door, and existing programs will be cut across the board. So, those in power are accountable and 2010 will be a major problem (already evidenced by recent gubernatorial elections).
That's what happens when the Faux News network deliberately lies about democrats 24/7/365. They eventually have some influence on public opinion. Faux News has absolutely nothing to do with reporting the news. They create the news, and steer public opinion with their own bogus creation, from Frank Luntz's outrageous claims that he invterviewed over 1,000,000 people (if he spent just 5 minutes per person and did nothing else during his 8 hour work days 50 weeks per year, this would take him 14 years. Why doesn't anyone call him on this outrageous lie?!) to Sean Hannity inflating the size of crowds at rallies with deliberately dishonest vidoes of other events, to Glenn Beck solemnly telling us the President hates white people.
Why does Rupert Murdoch and Faux News hate America? Maybe it's time to re-examine and revoke Murdoch's citizenship?
This administration is a joke. All these political types are playing with America's future and they just keep spending and spending, while people lose their jobs everyday!
This isn't a huge surprise because people forget things quickly. The GOP was in charge at the beginning. They pushed (for the most part but not entirely) for deregulation and openness for the crazy new things to invest in. Besides, it has been the Democrats who said that this is a mess, and let's clean it up to help people. Given time when it recovers, people will blame each group equally again.
how about blaming the entire government both democratic and republican... all are at fault for their own greedy behaviours.
Maybe we should not be blaming this economy on either political party. I might be crazy, but it seems that a "housing crisis" that was the result of an abnormally high rate of foreclosures is the result of homeowners over-extending themselves and buying more house than they could afford. "The bank approved me for X amount for my house, so that means I can afford it" is not a valid excuse.
Stop blaming the government for our own mistakes. Stop expecting the government to fix the problems created by our bad choices.
The blame game needs to stop. What is needed is for both parties to come to the table to solve this horrific mess!!
No. This is wrong. It's the US governmet and US corporations as a whole that created this mess -
THEY ARE ALL TO BLAME !!!
Of course they are BOTH to blame.
Bush,Pelosi, Geithner, Dodd, etc., were all part of the initial problem, as was everyone in Congress who failed to take action during the Bush and Obama administration.
It's time for Congress to stop playing politics and putting themselves first.....they work for US the American people and we are sick and tired of the same old rhetoric from both the Democrats and the Republicans.
Bush.
The economy was spiraling down, and Bush and his GOP followers did NOTHING.
Two words sum up all blame for this nation's economic problems: Greedy capitalists.
Nice to see that some of us are waking up and smelling the coffee.
Democrats and Republicans are both to blame, they just like to shift the blame to each other so they can keep the public confused. Both parties take huge payoffs from the business community it return for boosting profits at the expense of the American People. Very few of our politicians actually represent the people who vote for them. The push through of the bailout against public outcry is proof that Democracy is Dead. Don't listen to the whiners that cry socialism, that will not happen, capitalism killed democray, we now live in a Plutonomy. Deregulation, Sub-Prime, Lobbying and Campaign funding, Mandatory Healthcare, these are a few of the terms we hear which prove that the people no longer have a voice in this country. I hate to say it, but our puppet government officials have made us economic SLAVES. I'm ready to to join the public revolt, that is the only thing that will change our country for the better.
Who's to blame for the economy? WE ARE!
We want what we want and we want it NOW. We are a nation of children. To blame the Democrats at this point only underscores are uneducated and mal-informed most of us are. We expect the governement fix ALL our problems immediately..yet COMPLAIN about the government when it tries.
If tax cuts are given...the GOP screams INCREASED deficit! If healthcare reformis pushed (healthcare is a HUGE factor in dragging down the economy) theGOP screams louder.
We really should institute IQ tests before people can vote.
The democrats are mostly to blame. They have controlled the senate for years. Now, with Obama in the White House, they continue to worsen the economy. WE NEED CHANGE!!!
The economy started it's spiral downward exactly when Obama was assured the Democratic Party's candidacy. How is the economy in Zimbabwe...they did this spread the wealth thing, too?
Well surprise, surprise! That's what happens when ignorant, unemployed, illiterate dumbo-crats elect a socialist to run once powerful country.
Americans are getting smarter
I Wonder How A Misleading Poll Reads, Well I Guess I Just Read One Right Here. Instead Of Pointing Out The Wrangling That's Still Clearly Going On Between The House And Senate All Year Long, Some (HypocriCNN In Particular) Want To Create A Strawman Argument On Who's To Blame.
Why do the two parties have to constantly stand on oposite sides? Why does it have to be a political party's fault? It's the fault of poor regulation over big banks, Wall Street greed, and consumers who carry way too much credit. It's also the fault of the media for hyping our economic problems too much in September 2008, which sent us into a spiraling downturn during such an important economic time of year. But, the last time I checked we have both Democrats and Republicans putting together legislation and making fiscal decisions, they should both carry the blame equally if they are to be blamed at all.
While there are several Democrats complicit with the recession, it is the GOP and their business policies that led to the recession.
The deregulation of banks and lack of oversight in Wall Street is the primary culprit. The Republicans believe that no intervention, ie: government oversight is the way to go. Less Government is better but they did not do their jobs in watching what was happening. They were too busy taking kickbacks, seeing lobbyists and living the high life.
They literally outspent the Democrats in giving money away when they were in power. Not the mention the Billiions we have spent on a was that was not necessary, Iraq.
So yeah, the Democrats now have the ball in their court, they have one of the most difficult times and many problems that the Repugnants have left them. So far the Repugnants have offered nothing to resolve the problems of our times. They created them and with their vote of "NO" they continue to be the party of the Rich and Wealthy.
What is all this about saddlling our children with our debt. I was two years old when WWII started. My taxes paid the debt for WWII and to rebuild France and Germany, didn't they? When George Washington took the oath as the first president of this country he had to tax the people to pay for the Revolutionary War. Each generation pays the cost of what happened in the previous generation. Let's make some sense here... HUH?
News Flash....."I have created or saved 500 million jobs since I took office for the 330 million Americans. I have no idea why people are saying the economy is bad. I will give a BIG,BIG speech when I get back from China and remove my rickshaw hat and everything will be back on track", Obuumie said as he boarded Air Force One.
It would be over with if they would have let the market play out. However Owhiner has put this country in so much debt we may never get out. Nobody will be able to live much less pay for this health care scam. He is trying to destroy the country right before our eyes, this is the country michele is proud of where everybody is poor and lazy.
Actually–the blame for the RECESSION lies with individuals who live beyond their means; the blame for the ECONOMY lies with an irresponsible and incompetent government (both the previous and present administrations) that spends beyond its means.
Gotta watch out Dems, I'm telling you.
But in all fairness, there's really a lot of problems for both parties, we just ain't patient, that's all. Whether things have improved or not is open for debate but I will stick to what I've been saying for quite an awful long time. And that's just making sure we ain't thriving, I don't think so.
For what it is worth, the republicans are responsible for the near depression, no matter how much they sugar coat it.
The Republicans, of course, got us here. Whether it was by 'ideology,' deregulation, inattentiveness to a burgeoning shadow banking industry, unsubstantiated faith in 'free markets,' sheer negligence, or outright incompetence will soon be moot. People will be looking, instead, at what could have been done about obvious problems [with seemingly obvious, but as yet unattempted, solutions] and asking why we've seen such a limited, uncoordinated response to so serious a crisis. Any guess as to who's going to get the blame for that?
The truth is the Federal Reserve Bank is ultimately responsible for the crashing the economy just like it is for the great depression. Greenspan made the US dollar extremely cheap and expanded credit to anything with a pulse. speculators are to blame for driving home prices to unsustainable levels. We ourselves are to blame for drinking the koolaid and actually believing we were getting wealthier because our homes were going up in value (Paper gains), when our wages have been stagnent in comparison to the cost of living for decades. Our government is to blame because they no longer represent the people, only the extremely wealthy and corporations. while the banks take our dollars and loans it out to foreign investors to do business in foreign countrys, the people of this country is suffering greatly.
The main reason, I think, that the blame game is shifting totally away from the Republican party is that their strategy of being the "just say no", "no idea party" is working. How can you blame someone who is doing nothing. The sad truth is that if the question had been who do you blame – Congress, the President, state governments, or the voters, we may have seen a real light come on for the answer.
I bet there is a lot of bias in conducting the polls. What is the demographics of these polls. Were they mostly in GOP leaning states? How fair is teh poll. Either that or the American public has very short memory. The previous administartion did not have economic foresight. they were so occupied with Iraq war.
I can not believe people draw conclusions from polls. Republicans should not forget it was there party that put us in this mess. Blaming the democrats for the economic problem is ridiculous. At least the party and the president are trying there best to bring recovery. Trying to create confusion by taking polls and comparing parties is a political disaster. What we need as Americans is to work together and come up with a solution to slow down the recession. Whenever one party thinks the other party is at fault we mobilize in throwing them out of power. This is not a game it is a serious problem for everyone regardless of party. Polls do not include every household, it is only a sample. Shifting the economic problems from the republicans to democrats is ludicrous. Republicans should learn to accept there mistakes and join the band wagon to slow down the recession. This country belongs to all of us and our problems are not individual and has touched everyone.
At some point people will realize that the Democrats are far more responsible for the problems than they have been held accountable to this point. Regardless of the anger and distaste for Bush, the Democrats have been in control of Congress since the takeover in 2006, basically stopping any action by Bush. They have had control through this entire crisis. Their leadership this year with super majorities has been disasterous. With the economy so bad at the beginning of the year, the Stimulus bill was designed to have the greatest impact next year, just in time to elect the Democrats again. It may or may not work, in the meantime we the citizens suffer and are taken for fools. How serious can Obama really be when in December he will finally hold a jobs summit?
Who's to blame? try 8 years of the Bush doctrine to which end he lined all his buddies pockets with millions including Cheney the heck with the rest...
it will take quite a while to undo the damage Bush act 2 caused
Who controls both houses of Congress?
Who controls the White House?
Who controls the Federal government apparatus?
That is who to blame.
Time to forget the Bush bashing. Was good whiel it lasted huh?
I'll bet some of the brainwashed Bush bashers will be blaming Bush in 2012, along with out empty suit President.
The American public is the most fickle group of people on the face of the earth. The politicians know this and they know how to exploit it. This is why after the devastating defeat that the Republicans sufferered just one year ago they knew that they would have a chance to come back because Americans want things right away and when they don't get them they blame whoever is in charge regardless of who created the problem. When we put the Republicans back in power and the economy is still teetering the American people will see what a bad economy is like without safety nets for those in most need. This economy will take a while to come back and we won't give it time before going back to the morons who made it happen.
The Republicans can try to shift the blame all they want but it is their recession. Their total incompetence at running the economy has resulted in the mess we are in now. Ronald Reagan's trickle down economic theories were put into practice and they are at the root of this mess. The Democrats are trying the best they can to clean up this toxic spill from the radical rignt wing. Their efforts are working despite their being stabbed in the back by the Republicans at every turn. The Republican party has done so much damage to this country that we may never fully recover. It is up to real Americans to combat them and keep them from ever coming to power again!
The Republicans can try to shift the blame all they want but it is their recession. Their total incompetence at running the economy has resulted in the mess we are in now. Ronald Reagan's trickle down economic theories were put into practice and they are at the root of this mess. The Democrats are trying the best they can to clean up this toxic spill from the radical rignt wing. Their efforts are working despite their being stabbed in the back by the Republicans at every turn. The Republican party has done so much damage to this country that we may never fully recover. It is up to real Americans to combat them and keep them from ever coming to power again! While CNN thinks that this is a duplicate comment it really needs to be said again until the point is across.
The only President that took the National Debt and Deficit seriously was Clinton. At term end there was a budget surplus, something that's required to pay-off debt! The next party said "Who best know how to spend this money, you or the Government?" and with that we all voted ourselves a rebate check along with a new Republican President.
How is this possible? The economy is getting BETTER, not worse? idiots.
Obama told us that the stimulus package would cap unemployment at 8.5%. That turned out to be completely inaccurate.
And with Obama, Geithner, Summers, and Bernanke (Bush pick), our economy is being run by 4 guys who have never held a job in the private sector, unless you want to count Geithneir's 3 years as a lobbyist. Think about that. Our economic livelihood is in the hands of 4 guys who have never worked outside government and academia. That is mind-boggling.
Let's face it. Arizona is a Republican state and look what a mess it is in. Over 40-45% state workers are being laid off, unemployment is only $250 week maximum, raised certificate of operation fees so high many day care centers will have to close and poor families won't be able to work, home foreclosures on every street, guns on the street, no rest stops for tourists, immigration problems, streets eroding, etc. etc. If you will notice, President Obama is a pinata with a number of Republican Senators taking turns swinging at him trying to discredit him. I, for one, am sick and tired of the display of children to prove a point. Our senators really like "show and tell" don't they. Why can't they conduct them selves as adults. I hope Arizona turns a bright blue next election.
Both parties are equally responsible. The GOP deserves the most blame because they are the ones that always run on a platform of fiscal responsibility, and slam the Dem's as tax and spend.
It took Bush and the GOP 8 yrs to get us into this mess. The clean up could be moving faster if the GOP would not obstruct every step President Obama and the Democrats do. So for me it still is the GOP that is preventing our economy from progressing faster because they want a bad economy for 2010/2012 elections. The GOP don't care how much the people have to suffer as long as they can regain power. It is a game to the GOP.
Also, CNN try polling people other then those with land lines.
What a short attention span Americans have! How naive to think that these problems were caused in just a year by a new Democratic president. How can anyone just dismiss the previuos 8 years of Republican leadership and 12 years of Republican congressional leadership - duh!
What an impatient, expect-instant-results, wishy-washy society we are! Do we really expect the horrible situation we found ourselves in during 2008 to "turn around on a dime"? Good grief!
So 38 percent blame the Republicans, and 27 percent blame the Democrats. That's 65 percent who blame a political party - i.e., 65 percent blame politics and government. Maybe they're not as dumb as I thought!
The question is not who is to blame for the recession but who will get credit for the recovery.
well, what do you know....
are the chickens coming home to roost?
The more that folks research and learn that Clinton and the passage of the CRA was the fuel that finally ignited this fire, the more Americans hold the Dems responsible! Barney Frank was warned about the roblems with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and yet he and Maxine Waters chose to continue allowing them to operate without change until they nearly bankrupted our country. The reason for this, he simply wanted the continuation of forcing banks to loan money to poor people who would not normally qualify for a loan. Blame Bush all you want but we had 7 years of a very good economy and 1 year(2008) where the policies of Dems finally caught up with the economy. Their current drunken sailor like spending spree is sending us even further down the road of no return!
Who's to blame??? We all are. Those of who consume, who had to have everything and had to have it now, who had to have it bigger and better than anyone else. Congress as a whole.....no one in that hallowed place gives a rat's behind about the people that voted them in....they care about getting and keeping their own. And the fools that keep them in office.....Do you think they could go in as paupers and come out as millionaires if the public didn't keep sending them back? It's a hoot that I have heard the Congress needs to do away w/ or modify their own health and retirement programs.....you think they're going to vote to take away what they have in order to help the public??? What planet have you been on.....
Just goes to show there are a lot of stupid people out there. The Dems didn't drag the economy down. You can still thank the Republiklans for the shape of the economy provided you aren't stupid.
This demonstrates one major flaw in our current two party system. Marketing is used to garner public opinion, not action.
I am not surprise because Americans have short memories. We are not patient and want everything to change now. The GOP will succeed in destroying America at the very next opportunity. Most Americans need to take Economics 200 and know that unemployment is a Lagging indicator. Stop being used by the media for ratings.
Look in a mirror, that is where you will find who is responsible. Americans should be focusing on buying American made goods, instead of letting our elected leaders send jobs overseas.
Americans live beyond their means, and this is the result. We should attempt to turn this around by demanding from our retailers American made goods that will create jobs here, instead of sending our hard earned dollars overseas.
Americans are the ones to blame!
Equal blame across the board. These polls are ludicrous.
CLEARLY..... the economy did not start turning south until the democrats took both houses of Congress in 2006. And as a result, thanks to Barney Frank and Chris Dodd among others in the Pelosi legion, people who could not afford mortgages were able to get mortgages for homes they could not afford. Bush was a lame duck by the time the first bail out happened....he had no choice but to go along with the democrats in Congress because they would not entertain any more fiscally responsible solutions.
The dollar is crashing. We're about to experience yet one more fiasco in the democrats spending spree... health care reform. My money is ALL in Gold. How bout you?
Trying to balance the budget during an economic crisis is counter productive.
If the Federal Government had tried to balance the budget, the entire nation would be in the mess California is in right now: drastic government cuts, no government services, workers laid off or RIF'd, and unable to pay its debts.
How valuable would Treasury bonds be if the Feds had to give IOUs to pay its bills like California did?
The failed stimulus package and corporate bailouts now make the struggling economy the responsibility of both parties. Over 40 companies who received bailout money have said they will default on the loans. Companies who got huge sums of money declared bankruptcy anyways, including GM and Citigroup. We are at over 10% unemployment, which means the stimulus package has been an utter bust. For those of you who disagree, just remember that Obama said the stimulus package would keep unemployment below 8%. This is a mess created by both parties and it will continue due to the greed and ego of politicians on both sides of the aisle.
the mess we are in didn't happen overnight, and will not end overnight, the socalled gatekeepers are the blame and that covers a wide range to spread the blame to
The democrats are going into their fourth year having full control of congress. The democrats clearly own the economy now and the recession, two names quickly come to mind, Dodd and Frank.
One benefit from divorcing oneself from an impossible situation is the satisfaction of gloating afterwards that your hands are clean of a mess you had no hand in creating. It may be a cheap satisfaction, but I have always tended to blame both parties while they blame each other. No one ever wins. No one is ever happy.
Since human insignificance grows with population increase, thus correspondingly my opinion being worth proportionately less, would explain my lack of affiliation in majority political efforts.
Expect that 27% to grow. Whether that translates into the intelligence needed for most folks to gamble on a third party vote would be another matter entirely, however.
It would be nice if Obama would stay on American soil, WORK on the economic and jobless problems. He has no problem going out to work on the campaign trail; I only wish he had that much interest in the problems of this great country. After ten months in office, surely the democrats realize they bear a large responsiblity for the dire economic problems we face.
Considering all of the money spent by the GOP in an effort to point fingers at the Democrats, duuuuuuhhh.
It's because the Democrats can't get it together, or at least, they struggle to. No meaninful accomplishments yet, just trying to wade out of the muck that GOP left them. Some Dems are eager to vote with the GOP, forgetting who voted them into in office. One thing the GOP does well, like cults do, is adopt a group-think mentality. But for Dems, it's like herding cats.
In the words of my favorite Radical
" The Chickens are coming Home to Roost" ! :0)
It took the Bush-Cheney administration, and an unbridled Republican majority, eight years to grind the United States into the second-worst economic hole in its history and, arguably, its status as leader of the free world into disrepute,
It takes more than 10 months to solve this.
Whining isn't appropriate, but the Obama administration and the Democratic majority should never open their mouths on issues of the economy or foreign policy without reminding short-attentioned-span Americans of this!
The Republicans destroyed the economy with their selfish greed by sending too many jobs overseas. It will take twenty years too fix their mistakes.
The federal government has lived on the public credit card since the Nixon administration. From Reagan going forward that was combined with increases in spending, lowering taxes (income) and moving value added jobs (mfg) off shore creating even more debt (save a couple of years under Clinton) and crushing the middle class. The last 8 years of total mismanagement accelerated the downward spiral by allowing Wall street to gamble with our money that led us to the brink of a catastrophe. I think it's fair to say that the economy is on triage and the underlying problems have yet to be addressed. What are these people thinking that the fairy godmother will sprinkle some pixie dust on things and it will be all better? Folks, you don't 'kiss this boo boo' and make it go away.
Utter nonsense. The current economic depression was caused by Republicans and their corporate benefactors.
The meltdown that occurred on Wall Street was the result of neo-conservative "free-market" ideologies that suggest businesses should be allowed to operate without government regulation. Wall Street was allowed to set up incredibly careless mortgage programs because there was little or no regulation. Billions of dollars changed hands, many wealthy investors became wealthier, and when these shady mortgage programs finally fell apart, Junior Bush came up with the first bail-out plan for the banks.
The economic situation that exists today is exactly what one would expect when Wall Street and big banks are allowed to operate without oversight.
Wake -up, tell the truth, and stop with the pro-Republican propaganda!
Hardly surprising, given the non-stop barrage of hate, lies, filth, and slanderous allegations the Repugnants have been slinging since they lost control of the government! All all this on top of never, ever, once taking responsibility for the near destruction of the American economy and the world economy. But then...Repugnants NEVER take responsibility for anything, do they? Sure the blame is shifting. We have very serious problems in this country which they refuse to help fix, eventhough they caused most of them. President Obama and Congress are working on very complex issues to improve things, and this takes time. The American public in their ignorance, and stupidity have zero patience. Small wonder they place the blame in the wrong yard. We Democrats didn't make this mess! But our party is trying to straighten it out! To the Repugnants...pull your heads out of your backsides, and tell your Congressmen to lend a hand instead of providing nothing but obstruction, in their never-ending quest to bring about President Obama's failure. If he fails...we ALL FAIL!
I blame three groups for the recession. The republicans, the banks and the realtors. All three played large rolls in the systematic destruction of our economy. Sure there are others, but a majority of the blood is on their hands.
We are to blame the American people. We as Ameircan's sat on our lazy butts and allowed American businesses to be sent overseas to places like China, and India without a single uproar, or protest. We buy foreign cars, electronics, etc and we are making other countries rich. BUY AMERICAN.
Here's the weekly CNN polling piece that attempts to inject drama or controversy where none actually exists. How about reporting the news instead trying to make it up?
The problems we have cannot be attached to a political party; they are the fruit of a joint effort of 535 elected officials who suffer immediate amnesia when they go inside the Beltway, and forget all the reasons they were sent there.
Until we say a definite NO to their doing anything that is not specifically mandated by the US Constitution, our economy and overall well-being will continue to decline.
All of them need to re-read the 10th amendment and learn to live by it.
Wow.... What is wrong with the people in this country. Brainwashing through fear is the tool of choice for the GOP party. How can anyone with any intellegence whatsoever NOT blame the GOP??!! Our Democratic president has been in office less than one year. The cause of the recession happened in the past 2 to 6 years.
It is regrettable that voters have such short term memories of who or what caused economic problems. Bush's tax cuts along with greedy CEO's combined to cause the problem. Now, Obama's trying to clean up Bush's mess and the blame is being unfairly shifted to him because people expect him to work miracles. Also, many argue to balance the federal budget...that would cause many private companies(starting with behemouth defense contractors and their subcontractors and suppliers) to go belly up since the federal government is the largest customer in the world. Everyone argues against federal waste, what about private waste? Not too many civil servants get to stay in Ritz Carlton hotels, etc. Hum.
I have to say, even as a Democrat, both parties need to take some of the responsibility. The root cause for the problem I think falls mainly on the Republicans. Their belief in market driven solutions and corporate America being able to police themselves was naive. The Democrats though crafted a bailout package with to few penalties against those that caused the problems and lacked even the most modest of reforms. Both parties are guilty of creating a Wall Street recovery instead of a Main Street recovery. More moneyt should have been funneled directly to the people instead of to the banks and government. That most of Wall Street has returned to their destructive patterns, are increasing tsalaries even more, and believe their bonuses are a right not needing to be earned is disgusting to the regular American worker. Returning to the American capialistic model of the 21st century will only cause more hardships; not less.
Alternate headlines for this article
CNN Poll: Many Americans have forgotten that this reccession was a direct result of Republican and Bush Administration economic policies.
CNN Poll: Americans blame their problems on whom ever is available
CNN Poll: Americans are starting to realize our polls are just lame excuses for real journalism.
The GOP will never take responsibility for their mistakes. They are very good at shifting the blame. It was the 8 years of the Bush administration that casued this recession. A war based on the lies from Bush not only has cost lives but billions and billions of dollars. All because he wanted to get even with Sadam for trying to kill his daddy.
The lack The lack of patience displayed by the people of this country is mind boggling. We are willing to sit through eight years of having the economy destroyed by Republicans, yet are unwilling to give Mr. Obama one year. The real culprits are both parties and both houses. We live in an era where big medicine and pharmaceutical companies get gullible people who need healthcare, jobs, etc. to work against their own best interests. Also to blame is a culture of crime(fraud, fraud and more fraud) in this country where citizens and politicians who want to see the president fail no matter what are no better than terrorists and traitors to their own country.
Well considering, a good chunk of housing concern goes to the Community Reinvestment Act, and it will repeat itself till we get rid of this crap. In addition the protectionism of both parties in 2004/05 to Fannie Mae and Freddie MAC... But we got rid of of the crooked republicans... its time to get rid of the crooked republicans.
Everyone says "spending under Bush for 8 years"....however most fail to mention that Democrats had the majority in Congress for those last 2 Bush years. That was when they promised if they got a majority they would end the war in Iraq and bring all the troops home by Dec. 2008. So democrats have been in charge over the last 3 years not republicans.
The recession has been going on for 4 yrs which the Bush administration lied to the american people telling us that their was no recession . These are the policies that the former administration put in place, where just feeling the affect from those policies. The 2 wars giving rich people tax cuts , high gas prices , stock market, stealing this country blind.
These polls are ridiculous - the questions might as well be "Are you a Democrat or a Republican?" Or even sometimes "Are you a black person or a white person?"
I want to meet the 36% of the people who think "Barack Obama has improved economic conditions". I want to hear justification on that. What exactly has the president done to improve anything? Cite something. At the very least, if these people were to answer honestly, they'd have grouped themselves with the people who say he's "had no effect".
It's amazing how some people, both Liberal and Conservative, will vote in polls based solely on fiction, skin color, and party allegiance. It renders polling obsolete, especially on CNN.
I can't help but wonder who are these people who constantly swing back and forth in their opinions. Don't they know how to read and make in informed decision? Aside from that, the blame lands squarely on every citizen of this country. Had to have that plasma or LCD TV, the Xbox, and the heated leather seats in the Audi. And don't forget the 4000 square foot house with three-car garage for a family of four.
the problem is that nothing is made here...jobs are non existent because almost everything is made overseas..find a way to change that and our economy will get better.
Unarguably, both parties share blame if for no other reason than that we had a Republican president and Democrat congress for the key period leading up to the recession. Additionally, many of the dominoes that fell were set up years or decades before hand - in particular, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac (the first domino to fall) were set up largely to help people get home even when no financial analysis would suggest they could afford it and congress (especially Democrats) fought vigorously for decades to avoid enacting ANY oversight/control.
Now, the Democrats control all the cards and haven't done much other than add to the deficit and debt, which will cause their own negative impacts to the economy (though they'll largely be timebombs left for successors.
Democrat or Republican they are all to blame for the recession. Everyone in Washington has had there hands in this mess. Whether it be Bush . congress or the Senate. For years they have all been out of control with spending and not worrying about national debt or the outsourcing of American jobs.
But to blame President Obama is not fair. He has barely been in office a year yet. I think his policies have helped slow down the recession and in the end will help end it.
Who's to blame? Well let's see...President Clinton left a ten TRILLION dollar surplus when he left office. pResident Bush squandered all of it and left President Obama nearly the same Deficit and now ten MONTHS into office he's supposed to repair the damage that shrub did in eight YEARS. It's pretty obvious...
Pay attention, Dems. The "Bush's fault!" mantra is wearing thin.
Duh. Everyone wants to blame Bush. Rallying cry for the Democrats. Here's a simple lesson in American Politics. The Legislative Branch is responsible for policies. Not the Executive Branch. Democrats have had control of the Legislative Branch since 2006. Seems to me the economy was doing just fine when they took over.This recession began in late 2007/early 2008. With Democrats controlling both the House and the Senate.
Finally, the American people are waking up.
The magnitude of Bush's lies and epic failures will be felt, possibly, for at least a generation. The ‘Republican Values' that are the cause for much of the economic hardships cannot be dismantled with a quick fix solution. The Genocide Party has offered nothing substantial either. You aren’t going to fit into a bikini if you think that all you need to do is take a diet pill….when you weigh 310lbs.
While I am a democrat, I don't depend on the government, whoever is in office to fix my problems; I don't need too. I sacrificed and worked hard to achieve that on my own.
Those standing in line at tea parties holding their copies of 'Going Rogue', or burning crosses and hanging effigies wearing their 'Country First' T shirts while waiting for their welfare check and food stamps are the same ones who stuff their faces at McDonald's and look for someone to blame because they are fat.
It took years of Republican policies to cause the mess we are in. Now it is still the Republican policy of obstructionism that is still causing so much damage.
Republicans are afraid to see a successful administration. The Democrats need to pull together. The public needs to sort through these shifty politicians and get rid of the wolfs in sheep's clothing the likes of Lieberman and some 'Democrats'. They are really in effect Republicans and are a disaster to any true progressive initiatives that will be beneficial to the majority of the American people.
I blame the GOP and the Democrats for this bad recession, but most of all, I blame corporate GREED!!!!!!! Our jobs are going overseas,
so how does this make us proud Americans.
bush and dick cheney were depending on americans have very short memory,s republicans and there corperate leaders the real power inthe united states will slow recession until 2010 hope they can put there guys in power.like sacks putting 500 million in small business loans ,while investing billions in communist china, and india
This is bizarre. We are a nation with zero attention span and less interest in the details and nitty gritty of self-/republic governance. Are we doomed to repeat the mistakes of our past (but it's hard to believe the past would include the recent past of the last administration)? Both parties are to blame, but one party can't seem to free itself from the insanity of the other (and the insanity of the fear mongerers), to the detriment of the people of this country.
ya right...democrats are too blame for the economy. Not the unprecedented deficit spending spree Bush and the republicans inflicted on the nation for 8 years, not the bailouts Bush pushed through in 2008, not anyone in the Bush administration that didnt see this coming and did nothing to stop it, and certainly not the Iraq war that approaches one trillion dollars.
Ya its the democrats.
Do you people think we are ALL that stupid? Apparently you do.
Let's be honest. The GOP for 8 long years ran this country. The Democrats were just outsiders looking in. A war created by very bad intelligence sucked up our money like a vacuum cleaner. Domestic issues were sacrificed.
Now we have a new administration trying to bring this country back and who gets blamed. The Democrats.
Just look at the Health Care debacle fueled by the Right and it's supporters.
Now tell me who should be blamed for this economy.
Norman
As long as we keep sending the same batch of idiots to Washington, things will never get better.
dumb americans
The 36 percent that say his plans have improved things are the Dorito eating, Oprah watchers that sit at home and wait for the mailman to come witrh their "hard earned" checks.
The other 74 percent that work for a living know that he is an empty vessel with empty ideas.
The LIBERALS have been in charge of the purse strings since 2006, what has happened since then, anyone, Bueller, Bueller?
The nitwits are just realizing that the Dumocrats are in charge, where have they been for THREE YEARS?
Bush was bad, but this gutless fraud is beyond bad, his is an Obomanation.
It is about time that people realize that Bush had a democratic congress so they had a very strong hand in our economic demise. How can you blame Bush? Obama has succeeded in more than tripling our debt since January, unemployment exceeds 10% and is more realistically like 17% since they do not take into consideration those who no longer qualify for unemployment benefits.
I need someone to explain how the dems are not and have not damaged our economy.
But but but the Democrats have 'saved or created' jobs and pushed unemployment to 10.2.
When will the American people wake up and smell the reality – President Obama (though he thinks he is doing the right thing) seems to have one main goal and that is to put the U.S. in it's place... and that is NOT at the top but somewhere alongside third world countries or maybe a bit lower.
George Bush and the neo-cons did a pretty good job of starting the recession, but Obama has wasted vastly more money over the last ten months than Bush did in the prior four years–it's definitely Obama's recession now. Add to that his insistence on addressing the recession with the long-debunked, but ever the Democrat's favourite, tax-and-spend, Keynesian approach, and people are right in shifting the blame to the Democrats.
Key words – the numbers of Americans EXCLUSIVELY holdng the GOP responsible for the recession has been falling. Well duh....
This poll shouldn't have been evaluated based on party lines, but rather along generational lines.
While the Bush administration's asleep at the wheel approach to the economy certainly led us down this path, the real culprit for this mess is the baby boomer generation. From day one this generation did nothing but take for themselves, leaving little to nothing for future generations. Mine and future generations have now been left with mountains of debt, oceans that have been treated like toilets, air pollution, deforestation, extinction, not to mention a powder keg waiting to go off at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. This "greediest generation", who only lived for today, and didn't plan for their own futures (let alone their children's), were the driving force behind the speculative and over-leveraged behavior that caused this down turn in the first place.
Pointing the finger at either political party is a waste of energy. America is no longer the industrial giant that exported quality goods to the world with blue collar jobs to support a healthy middle class. Those jobs are now in China, the rest of the Pacific rim and Mexico. Our capital goes overseas to invest in these industries which makes the investors and the foreign factory owners rich and reduces the American public to consumers who no longer have the money to spend. With the two political parties screaming nonsense at each other, who is going to get America back on the right path?
There is fault by both parties. The root cause is the federal government's social engineering that required banks to make loans to people who should not have gotten them (community development reinvestment act). Then the government had Fannie May and Freddie Mac buy the loans so the banks could make more bad loans. Groups like ACORN were in the middle all this helping people get fraudulent loans, see for your self do a search on ACORN fraud NINJA loans. The liberals who brought you this banking mess now want to run health care.
ya think ,,, how bout this,,, guys like ,,,sen dodd,, and rep , barney frank,,, these two are ones who started the credit mess anyway,, democrats,,,,,
Stupid Americans.... The recession is all the fault of Bush/Cheney and their GOP majorities in Congress that allowed the spending of TRILLIONS of dollars of the Bush Wars as well as secret government.
Obama's administration has not been stellar yet, but let's keep the blame where it belongs: Bush/Cheney!
it's amazing where you people draw these polls from , anyone that keeps up with current events and the media and has some sane thinking knows that republicans are truely responsible for this mess , but we all know that some groups of people will believe anything as long as the LIE is told enough they'll start believing it...........
27 percent of people being polled need to have a mental evaluation.
OBAMA 2012
A new recent Poll shows :
58% of people think CNN/Opinion research do stupid polls for their own rating
80% of american people have amnesia
30% of American people are incrediblely Stupid
What a wonderful world we live in both parties are responsible for the economic mess. American people the recession started at the end of President Bush last term. President Barack Obama is trying to clean up the mess he was left with. What a wonderful world we live in.
Republicans put forth no ideas, refuse to work with the democrats for the American People, and obstruct at every juncture,so Obama will meet his "Waterloo." Talk about a garlic milkshake.
Who's to blame? Well let's see... President Clinton left a 10 trillion dollar surplus when he left office. pResident Bush squandered it all and left nearly the same as a DEFICIT to President Obama. Now in the 10 months he's been in office he's supposed to fix the economy that shrub took 8 years to destroy...It seems pretty obvious to me.
Well, I didnt mean to say Hill and Bill will turn aruond by now. I meant to say they would have both full speed put on the recovery button on 200 MPH.
With Obie, we're clocking at 100MPH and with the REPUBLI KON, stopping him, we're moving at 25 MPH. We GOT A LONG WAY TO GO!!!
nOW, IF it was McCain, we would have been clocking at -100MPH.
Plenty enough blame to go around for both....I just can't wait until the elected elitists get a taste of unemployment themselves in 2010 and 2012. Maybe some of the patriots that run and get elected in 2010 on an Independent Common sense CENTRIST ticket can immediately enact legislative action to cut and curtail the golden government meal tickets to these prior public servants that have ALL forgotten whom they work for and done their best to deliver us in harms way! Remember when Crooks went to jail and rapists and murders got the death sentence?
What people are not understanding is that the stimulus package was not to directly save or create private sector jobs but government jobs such as teachers, police officers and firefighters. In Minnesota alone, over 1200 school jobs were saved or created. I've seen private contractor road crews in MN and ND working on the interstates because the states received ARRA funds. It's slow but it is working. The stimulus package is keeping thousands of people employed and in turn, they'll be spending.
Uh oh. Someone's in trouble.
Well it should, its time to stop blaming everything on the old administration. The stimulus hasn't done a thing to help this country
i have to be honest, WE messed this one up......8 years of Bush Jr. did this to the economy.....the American people are into name brands Bush and now Palin.......neither could help the economy any more than President Obama. the economy should be our main focus since so many peolpe are in crisis and then maybe healthcare reform. crime is increasing tremendously, not only because of the approaching holidays.
The Democrats have been in control of Congress since 2006. Legislation is written there, bottom line. Too bad Dodd, Frank, Obama, and the liberals blocked tightening of the regulations to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which Bush tried to do. They received the most in campaign contributions from them. This could have stopped the sub-prime mess. Too bad ex-Clinton administration officials, and including Rahm Emanuel, took high paying jobs at those two institutions and sucked the tax-payers dry. Too bad ACORN had a seat at the table, forcing banks to allow people who couldn't afford a mortgage to get away without paying PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance), that would have reduced the lender's losses. Letting Insurance Companies, Investment Banking Firms, Tax Preparer Service Companies, General Motors, etc. to get into the mortgage industry diluted the specialization of the trade. The kids on Wall Street should have stayed on Sesame Street.
The administration and congress brought this on themselves when they passed the partisan $ 1 trillion Stimulus bill and claimed it was all about jobs, or if I can quote Speaker Pelosi," jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs...".
Not only has that not happened, but it has gotten worse in a big way. Now of course there are huge discrepencies even with what they post on their web site to show how many jobs were created or saved.
They pushed through the Stimulus bill with strong and essentially unanimous Republican opposition ( i.e., the party of NO ), so now the Democrats own the results.
Most economic indicators are positive and unemployment is a lagging indicator, which means it's going to take a while for it to reflect Democratic programs. It's looking like unemployment should be back on the up and up early next year. By Election Day 2010, I'm thinking we'll see a much healthier economy and that's probably bad news for Republican candidates.
Proving once again just how stupid the American people are. Have they forgotten that for in the last 30 years we've had 22 years of Republican Presidents, all of whom ruined the economy. From 1994 to 2006 the Republicans controlled both houses of congress and for 6 of those years the Dim Son Court Appointed Boy President was in charge. These people have destroyed this country. The Democrats do share some of the blame for being a bunch of spineless wienies and not standing up to them but anyone who things that the Democrats are responsible for this mess is a moron . . . or a moran as the teabaggers like to say. God help America with a citizenery as informed as ours.
It always takes a while for the truth to emerge. Political analysts said a long time ago that Bush's favorables would improve with time and they have. Remember when President Obama and the Democrats insisted that Bush release the Tarp funds before he left office. This was done so blame could be attached to Bush.
you know it is nice to have a seat at the table but when it get to the point you have to decide what bill you are going to skip this month you know something is wrong....and that did not happen just this year, that happened last year and the year before and so on.....AMERICAN people do the math.....it adds up to Bush, hello GOP. not in denial, we did this. now we are going to have to regroup and come strong in 2012.
It was inevitable that people would start to see the truth. The colapse of the financial institutions and housing market was due only to the democratic party putting pressure on lending institutions to lend to lend to individuals who would normaly not qualify. This started with the Clinton administration. Unfortunately Bush did not have sense to put a stop to it. Only the liberal democrats are responsible for this economic disaster.
So they're figuring it out. All you have to do is look at the stimulus bill to see it was never intended to improve the economy, just political payback. The dems want our economy to decend to the level of Afganistan's in the name of social justice. The people that will suffer the most are the poor and minorities.
I lost my job under a Dem President, a Dem Congress in a state that has a Dem. Governor and a Dem. controlled Legislature.
The tax and tax and tax and spend, spend, spend policies are killing the economic engine in this country.
We spend nearly $1T for job creation, unemployment explodes and now they want more money for a "jobs bill".
I wanna waterboard every darn one of them.
His stimulus of going green for the state of Texas Wind Farm, 1.5 Billion , Gives them 30 permanent Jobs, But gives China 2000 Jobs MFG> Turbines .
So where are your Tax Dollars going .
And the Taxpayers are to approve this . While looseing there jobs , and going to be taxed more an more .While Obama is out photo shooting ,
The blame lies 75% Dem and 25%Rep. The root of the evil lies in all the social engineering schemes dreamed up and overseen by the democrats through the ages. This current economic situation has taken decades to ferment.
Anyone who blames the current administration for the economic crisis are idiots. After 8 years of the Bush/Cheney spending, that was rarely questioned, here we are cleaning up their mess. DON'T EVER FORGET HOW WE GOT HERE!!!!!
I feel the current administration is doing a remarkable job of "multi tasking", trying to fix the mess we are in. We did not get into this mess in 1 yr and we will not get out of it in a year either......patience is a virtue and I believe this administration will turn this country around and we will be better off because of their hard work!!
First of all Clinton signed off on most of the deregulation. Second there was a democrat controlled congress in place while all this was going on. Why didn't they say something??
All in all I don't blame either party. Its People wanting more than they can afford and banks not doing their proper screening.
Both parties are completely controlled by the big corporations and both parties are responsible for this mess.
You can't blame the recession itself on the Democrats. This has been a long time coming and relief doesn't come over night or even one year. Everyone needs to realize just how deep the creek we're all up actually is.
In a similar poll, 98% of Americans expect instant gratification for everything. Duh.
Just wait untill the numbers come out in about 2010, these would look good to them.
Plueaseeeee! It did'nt take George Bush eight years to take this country on a path of destruction. He pretty much did it in two years. Spent the surplus and threw us into a illegal war where we spent billions of dollars destroying a country that had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. We got nothing for the bucks that he spent, other than deaths of our great boys and girls who serve our country. How many Iraqi men, women and children lost their lives or were displaced by this insane war? Does anyone out there believe that one life is worth all the money spent on this crazy war ? I do. I cry for all the lives lost to this venture of Bush and Cheney. It will take the Democrats and President Obama another eight years to get this country back on track. This is not a 30 minute sit-com. It's real life.
This is nobamas and the democrats fiscal mess due to their uncontrolled tax and spend attitude. You can no longer blame it on the past administration unless you are either stupid or not paying attention.
If you look at the facts, things plummeted under the Bush administration and leveled off under Obama. These facts cannot be disputed. People are just stupid and think whoever is leading at that very moment is responsible for everything that has ever happened.
Maybe people are realizing that there is not much of a difference between either party. The GOP will try and spin this, like they have started some big movement. They haven't. People need to learn some patience. You cannot fix everything overnight, in a year, or even 4 years. Everybody is so conditioned to want everything right now. Real life does not work like a microwave dinner or movies on demand. More importantly, to fix this is going to require (gasp) effort on the part of the public. It's time to start being part of the solution or shut up. As much as I disagree with the Tea Party movement, I at least respect the fact that they are trying to get thier voices heard. Now if we can get the intellectuals of our country to step up and do something. If the only voices out there are from morons, we will get a moronic result.
Oh for the uninformed. For the most part it would take until next tax time for anything to change. We're still working on Bush's fallout. It'll take forever to fix. Albeit, the incumbents aren't exactly doing themselves any favors.
what kind of twisted question on a poll and completely out of reason interpretation for the result has led to this conclusion
8 years of abuse to the American people is the one and only reason we are in the mess we are in
down with the GOP
Well, PR works when truth won't.
I just can't see how the GOP is working for the good of the country over the good of the party.
Both paries share the blame. There's no real news here because it was known a year ago that eventually this would become Obama's recession. The fact his plans haven't worked as well as hoped is more a sign of how deep the recession was established before he was elected than anything else ... but both parties are still to blame. Advantage: no one.
its bush's fault, dont you know? lol.
you liberal dufus's, all your "plans" are just thories and ideas. that is the great scam of liberalism, your junk doesnt work, only on paper, in thoery, not in reality.
we are going to fix it, by "we" i mean the hard working people who play by the rules. the rest of you are in big fat trouble....
Well, well, well. Looks like the sheep are starting to wake up and realize that all the problems actually originated with the Dumb-o-craps.
Is the public beginning to notice that the Democrats got control of the House and Senate 2 years before Bush left office? Remember the good old days of 2006?
Okay, fair enough actually. I too wish they could make things happen a little faster, so some blame does go to the Dems.
However, to be clear, this recession was STARTED by the GOP, and they have offered exactly nothing in terms of constructive help in solving the situation. It is primarirly the result of a crash in an overinflated real estate sector, and the corresponding crisis in the financial sector. The ideological Republican right sat around repeating their canned comments about "tax cuts" and "less regulation" while the fat cats in the financial sector amuck. Too big to fail is purely and exclusively the fault of the GOP.
Now all they do is sit around criticizing Obama for anything he does, and offer no alternative of their own. The GOP solution seems to be.......do nothing.
Look, all I know is that while the Clinton's were in office I had a job and was not ever really stressed out. One in a half years after Bush was in office I was laid off and told to join the Army. I had 4 children and diabetes. I still have not been able to find a good job since 2002 and I am a college graduate. I have not been able to find health care for may family and at least I have had a couple of breaks thanks to legislation passed by Obama. The recession started because big rich corporation began paying low wages and working employees to death. They refused to allow Unions to form and people began getting sick mentally and physically while families were being torn apart because of the lack of mom and dads presence. You now have a generation of people that hate Rich people.