Opinion: Obama White House says the economy is recovering; A majority of Americans says, Uh, no, it isn’t
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According to the Obama administration, the nation is already recovering from one of the worst recessions in decades.
According to Americans, that’s simply not true.
And you’ll never guess which incumbent Democratic president they blame for it.
A new CBS News Poll finds that nearly six-out-of-10 Americans (57%) say that President Obama and Vice President Joe ‘Recovery Summer’ Biden can cite positive statistics from the National Bureau of Economic Research all they want.
But things ain’t getting better economically where it matters.
The trouble for the president and his new VP partner next year is that in 2012 those same Americans will be voting, not the statistics. Despite a new presidential press secretary, only slightly more than a third (37%) are buying the White House’s recovery line at the moment.
The new CBS survey also found that disapproval of Obama’s job performance is up slightly to 41% from 39% last month. While approval of his job has sagged a tad, from 49% to 48%.
A Granite Quake
A shocking new poll out of New Hampshire finds that with only 51 weeks left before that state’s scheduled early Republican presidential primary, an overwhelming majority of GOP voters have yet to decide who they like.
What in the global warming world are they waiting for -- election day?
Not one single Republican candidate has even announced and yet nearly eight-out-of-10 GOP voters there (78%) remain undecided in the WMUR-University of New Hampshire Granite State Poll.
Of those who have decided, the early favorite is former next-door Gov. Mitt Romney, who’s been hanging around New Hampshire for years and generously assisting the state party financially.
Romney has 40% of the decideds (and a 73% approval rating generally) with all of the other usual Republican suspects at or below 10%.
The 2012 presidential election is barely 90 weeks away. In a hypothetical matchup, Romney scores 49-41 against Obama. The president probably remembers losing the Democratic primary there three years ago to someone named Hillary Clinton, who found her voice in the snow after finishing a disappointing third in the Iowa caucuses.
Next-door Obama won there. Ticket Trivia: Do you remember who finished second? (Answer below**)
A Prediction Built on Sand
Speaking of ancient history, Egypt is on the minds of other pollsters.
Gallup-USA Today reports that on Monday, recent developments there had caused some naive Americans to feel optimistic about the spread of democracy in the Middle East.
The survey found 47% thought the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak would prompt further growth of democracy in the region, while 44% were more realistic, saying Not.
The remaining 9% had been watching the Emmys and had No Opinion.
-- Andrew Malcolm
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**Answer: J. Edwards.