Trouble for the president’s economic agenda? In a new poll for The Hill, 62 percent of Americans oppose raising the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, while just 27 percent support it. That number includes 77 percent of Republicans and 64 percent of independents. Even a plurality of Democrats — 46/42 percent — oppose raising the limit.
The poll also has some data on opinions about the stimulus two years out, and of President Obama’s handling of the economy in general. Just 36 percent of respondents believe the stimulus created jobs, while 48 percent overall — including 61 percent of independents — say it did not. Forty-four percent of respondents say President Obama’s policies are hurting the economy, 41 percent that they are helping. The hurt/help split among independents is 47-37.
Things were somewhat better for the Republicans: 44 percent of respondents said GOP control of the House would help the economy, while 30 percent said it would hurt it.
More here.
Did the pollster explain the consequences of not raising the debt ceiling to his subjects? I doubt it. The poll, is thus meaningless.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt reminds me of polls which ask Americans if they want spending cut, but fail to ask if those polled know most of the federal budget goes to Defense, Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security, which théy don't want cut.
Unfortunately hfelton is right. These polls are fun to throw at the administration but the reality is that they're fundamentally unserious. OF COURSE most Americans don't want the government going farther into debt. And they don't want to pay taxes or pay for much of anything, in fact.
We're cherry-picking these polls. Polls also say that people don't want the government spending less on Medicare or Social Security.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI would still like to see someone address the fundamental question of what the debt limit means? What does it mean to "limit" something if every time you reach the limit, it is "imperative" that you increase the limit?
It's like a dieter who says "I'm allowed one cookie". Then when they eat their cookie, they say "I want another cookie, so now I'll allow myself another cookie". In the end, he just eats however many cookies he wants, the there was no such thing as a limit.
Last year the Democrats looked at our country, and based on SOMETHING, set a debt limit. What did they use to judge that number? It would be nice to think they looked at our economy, the world, our output, our assets, and decided that THIS NUMBER was the most we could afford to borrow. If they didn't, the number was a meaningless exercise.
But if they did, then why are we having this conversation? What has changed in the past year that would make it OK to have a higher debt than the previous year?
Well, the truth is clear -- the "debt limit" is simply "how much do we need to borrow, with a little cushion." So of course we can just increase it, because "we need to borrow more money". But that means it's not a limit, it has no meaning, and we aught to just scrap it and be done with it.
So I oppose increasing the debt limit. The Democrats told us what the limit should be, and republicans aught to loudly and often say that, in this instance, they are going to defer to the "wisdom" of last year's democratic majority, and stick with the limit they set. Let the democrats explain why they didn't do their job last year, why they didn't set the amount correctly, why they left us in such danger.
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