As the economy improves, who should get the credit? Paul Bedard reports for the Washington Examiner that people aren’t lining up to pat President Obama on the back for the accomplishment.
Americans are in general agreement that the nation’s economy is improving, but not their own personal situation, a depressing reality that the administration can’t shake the country out of no matter what it does.
A big reason: They just don’t believe the president and his team’s boasting about the economy, with 52 percent in a new poll believing that there are more people unemployed than the president says.
The latest Economist/YouGov poll found that the “positive assessment has yet to become part of most Americans daily conversations about the economy. And Americans are far more likely to credit themselves and American business — and not the president or Congress — for whatever economic improvement there has been.”
For example, while majorities believe that unemployment is improving and the economy is getting better, they don’t credit Washington. Business first, and consumers second, get the credit. President Obama and Congress follow in the poll.
The poll offers two reasons why the public is slow to buy into the improvement, and give Obama the credit. First, it says Americans have a negative attitude about the economy. Second, they just don’t believe the government.
People don’t believe the government? They think businesses and consumers play a greater role than politicians in improving the economy? Those sound like positive developments to me.
