Despite disapproval on economy, majorities/pluralities favor Obama's actual policies

[jefferson_dem]

Public disapproves of Obama on economy, but supports his actual fiscal policies
By Greg Sargent

<SNIP>

It’s true. The poll finds that only 37 percent approve of Obama’s handling of the economy, versus 59 percent who disapprove. It also finds that only 31 percent are “extremely confident” or “quite confident” that the President has the right goals and policies to improve the economy, versus a whopping 68 percent who are only somewhat or not at all confident.

But then the pollsters ask about the policies themselves. And here’s what they find:

— A solid majority (60 percent) supports reducing the deficit by ending the Bush tax cuts for the rich.

— A solid majority (56 percent) supports reducing the deficit through a combination of tax increases and spending cuts.

— Only 37 percent support the GOP’s solution to the deficit, i.e., reducing it only through spending cuts with no tax hikes on the rich or corporations.

— A plurality supports a federally funded roads construction bill to create jobs, 47-26, which is similar to what Obama is expected to propose in his jobs speech.

— A plurality supports continuing to extend unemployment benefits, 44-39.

— A plurality supports an extension of the payroll tax cut, 40-20.

As Steve Benen notes, this bodes well for public acceptance of Obama’s jobs speech on Thursday. After all, it would appear possible that disapproval of Obama on the economy is a referendum on the actual state of the economy, rather than on Obama’s suggested current policies for fixing it. While it’s true that the public remains skeptical of Obama’s number one solution to the economy — the stimulus — the public is clearly receptive to the current, unimplemented solutions Obama is championing, even though the same public generally disapproves of Obama’s economic performance.

<SNIP>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/public-disapproves-of-obama-on-economy-but-supports-his-actual-fiscal-policies/2011/03/03/gIQAgIGm6J_blog.html

[phantom power]

1. We have known for decades that voters favor (traditional) Dem policies...

When you ask them specific questions like "do you favor policy X," the answers are almost always in favor of traditional Democratic policies.

The fact is that even thought this is true, voters regularly vote for Republicans. Perhaps someday the DLC and OFA will dig into why that is.

[tblue]

2. See? Progressive ideals are American ideals!

Stay on it, Mr. President! You can be the populist hero of our time. If you want it.

[BeyondGeography]

3. What we have here is a failure to communicate

[jefferson_dem]

5. True.

Obviously, the White House, is at least partly to blame. Seems they have been caught off guard from the beginning ... on how to break through the right wing noise machine.

Here's hoping we see a dramatic paradigm shift come Thursday.

[BeyondGeography]

7. Yep

Cheers.

[Tarheel_Dem]

4. K&R (nt)

[boxman15]

6. And this is my biggest disappointment in the Obama administration right here.

It's not his policies, the vast majority of which I agree with. It's been his failure to shift the debate to the left that's disappointed me. People still talk, act, and think like this is a center-right or a conservative country. In reality, when you look at the actual issues, the American people are much, much more progressive than they think they are.

When Obama was elected in 2008, I was expecting little in terms of actual accomplishment, but he would use his oratory skills to shift political debate to the left. It's been the opposite. He's gotten a hell of a lot of good done, but the debate has shifted to the right, since the Republican talking points machine keeps on rolling.

President Obama and his re-election team needs to get out there in 2012 and educate the masses. Once people actually see what both sides stand for, I'm confident Obama will win in a landslide in 2012, and more importantly, Congress will have big Democratic majorities. That's good for America.