Americans Say the Economy and Spending are the Top Issues, Both Bad for Obama

This headline causes a flashback for me to The West Wing episode where Josh is amused by a foreign aid poll claiming that 68% of Americans think too much money is spent on foreign aid and 59% want it cut, leaving an apparent 9% that don’t quite seem to get it. Such is not the case here though.

Actually the headline is taken from a recent Scott Rasmussen article, Who Are The Tea Partiers Now?, that cites one of his polls that determined “Among all voters, 47% say the economy is the top issue, while 20% say fiscal policy issues.”

Not to split hairs here but it is difficult for me to separate one from the other except in a poll. However, the bottom line is quite simple: 67% of all voters say the mess we are in and how we got here is their primary election issue. That’s bad news for President Obama because two-thirds of voters are asking why are we suffering economically and the answer is Obamanomics.

While there is an irony to the polling numbers there is also a unique aspect to them. Some of the electorate is starting to ask “how did we get here,” not just bemoaning the overall circumstances. The “how” people could well be that 27% citing fiscal policy issues separate from the economy as a whole, and if that is the case then things get even worse for Obama.

We got here because of fiscal policies promoted by liberal economists who dredged up policies from days gone by without regard to current domestic and world circumstances that didn’t exist 70 to 80 years ago. Then after a spectacular failure in achieving any of the highly touted goals the President and his administration clung to this misguided path and pressed on for another two years. The net result was $4.5 trillion in deficit spending in three years with an assured increase in the total debt of more than $6 trillion by November. That’s a 60% increase in our country’s debt in four years.

What did we get in return for these fiscal policies?

• Lower unemployment?
• Increased median household income?
• A stronger economy in the global marketplace?
• A better domestic economy where small businesses are thriving?

Nope to all of the above.

So to the 47% who are most concerned about the economy, there is no good news from Obama or his economists, and to the 27% more concerned about fiscal policy issues the news is no better from the administration. To the 67% of voters who are concerned and frustrated with the where we are and how we got here issues, all I can say is it’s time for a change in the economy and fiscal policies, and that starts with a change in the Oval Office.