Polling Memo: Remember the Stimulus?

February 11, 2013

Fox News: Lessons from Obama’s Stimulus

On Monday, November 24, 2008, in a press conference held in Chicago, President-elect Barack Obama unmasked his plan for economic recovery, including the first draft of his economic stimulus package.  Here’s what he said:

“Not only do I want the stimulus package to deal with the immediate crisis, I want it also to lay the groundwork for long-term sustained economic growth….With our economy in distress, we cannot hesitate and we cannot delay.”1

Fast-forward to today:

Last week, FoxNews asked voters to reminisce on Obama’s $800 billion dollar stimulus plan passed in 2009, asking them if it “worked and was a good use of taxpayer money, or not.” Sixty percent said it was not. In addition, 52% said the worst is yet to come when thinking about the economy.

Obama-Stimulus_21113
 

To add to this, nearly three-fourths of voters believe the key ingredient in “[strengthening] the nation’s economy” is cutting government spending, NOT increasing it.

Cutting-Govt-Spending_21113
 

And, while our tax and spend President insists on doing more of the same, with a failed economic stimulus looming in the background, voters seem to hold firmly to this belief: we can’t spend our way out of a spending problem.

 

POLLSTER: Anderson Robbins Research (D) & Shaw & Company Research (R) for Fox News
DATE: Conducted 2/4-6/2013; Released 2/7/2013
SAMPLE: Sampled 1,010 Registered Voter; MoE ±3.0%
SOURCE: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/interactive/2013/02/07/fox-news-poll-voters-say-country-worse-off-today/
1 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122753584294452995.html; http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/11/24/obama-proposes-big-stimulus-package-tax-increases-wealthy/