These poll numbers were released earlier today by Rasmussen Reports -- "an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information."
49% Say Bush Chiefly To Blame for Big Deficit, 43% Blame Obama
May 19, 2010
Americans overwhelmingly view the federal budget deficit as a major problem, and they blame President Bush and President Obama - and their respective parties - almost equally for the size of it. Most also believe the Bush Administration increased federal spending too much.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 49% of Adults say President George W. Bush and the Republicans are more responsible for the size of the current federal budget deficit. But 43% say President Obama and the Democrats are more responsible.
Predictably, 79% of Democrats see Bush and the GOP as more responsible, while 80% of Republicans point the finger at Obama and his party. Adults not affiliated with either party, by a 53% to 36% margin, say Bush and the Republicans are primarily to blame.
Eighty-one percent (81%) of all Americans view the size of the deficit as a major problem in terms of contributing to the country's current economic situation. Only 16% say it's a minor problem.
Most U.S. voters continue to believe that the nation's current economic problems are due to the recession that began under the Bush administration rather than the policies Obama has put in place since taking office.
Fifty-six percent (56%) of Adults say the Bush administration increased government spending too much. Just 15% say Bush's administration cut government spending too much, while 21% say it kept spending at about the right level.
The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on May 15-16, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC . See methodology .
There is a high level of agreement across all demographic categories about the seriousness of the deficit in terms of the country's current economic problems
Republicans feel even more strongly than Democrats and unaffiliateds that the federal budget deficit is a major economic problem.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Democrats and 65% of unaffiliated adults think Bush's administration increased government spending too much. Republican voters have mixed feelings: 44% say the Bush administration spent too much, while 41% say it kept government spending about right.
Two-out-of three investors (67%) say Bush's administration increased government spending too much, a view shared by just 45% of non-investors. In fact, non-investors are nearly three times as likely as investors to think government spending was cut too much during the George W. Bush years.
Investors say the Bush administration and Obama administation are equally to blame for the size of the deficit, but most non-investors (52%) say the Bush administration is more responsible.
Thirty-five percent (35%) of voters now think Republicans and Democrats are so much alike that an entirely new political party is needed to represent the American people.
Most voters believe the just-passed national health care bill will add to the federal budget deficit , and 56% want the bill repealed.
Only 18% of Americans are willing to pay higher taxes to lower the federal deficit .
The president recently created a bipartisan national commission to recommend ways to reduce the deficit , and most voters expect it to propose tax increases rather than cuts in government spending. Voters also think Congress is much more likely to raise taxes if the commission recommends it than to follow any recommended spending cuts.
Eighty-three percent (83%) of Americans say the size of the federal budget deficit is due more to the unwillingness of politicians to cut government spending than to the reluctance of taxpayers to pay more in taxes .