There’s plenty of bad news for Republicans in the writeup of the new Washington Post/ABC News poll. But look a little deeper into the raw numbers.
One percent of Americans describe the economy as “excellent.” Another 9 percent say “good,” meaning 10 percent total describe it positively.
But 40 percent of Americans say “not so good” and half, precisely 50 percent, say “poor.” That’s a 10-90 split.
Yet 39 percent approve of how Obama is handling the economy; of that total, 18 percent say they “strongly approve.” Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Democrats’ base.
On other economic questions, 29 percent say that they or someone in their household has been laid off in the past year; 71 percent say that a family member or close friend has.
Democrats will rejoice that the numbers for the GOP in this poll are lousy, but there are other ominous indicators for Obama’s reelection bid. As recently as October 2010, 40 percent of respondents said the actions taken by the Obama administration had “made things better” and 31 percent said it had “made things worse.” Today those numbers are at 29 percent “made things better” and 37 percent “made things worse.”
Blame is actually shifting a few points away from the Bush administration, from a 15/63 split on better/worse to 16/57 split.
Asked whether “large cuts in federal spending would do more to (create jobs) or do more to (cut jobs) in this country?”, the survey found 47 percent saying it would create jobs, and 44 percent saying it would cut jobs. In March, 41 percent said it would create jobs and 45 percent said it would cut jobs.