Stuck in a Rut?
By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer
Posted April 10, 2008 – Are you better off today than you were four years ago? Well, two recent polls found that, for the first time in 50 years of asking the question, the majority of Americans believe they are stuck in a rut or falling behind.
The poll, conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, asked middle-class folks how things had been for them the last five years. What it discovered is that one in four respondents believe they hadn’t moved forward, while about one in three believe they’ve actually taken steps backward.
Pew’s poll, released Wednesday, found that only 11 percent of the public sees the economy as “excellent” or “good,” down from February’s 17 percent and January’s 26 percent.
So who do the American people think can fix the problem and make them feel more economically secure? Senator’s Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) both have a slight advantage over presumptive Republican nominee John McCain of Arizona.
As for the contest between the two Democrats, 49 percent of those surveyed prefer Obama over Clinton (39 percent), almost identical to the findings of a survey in April. That’s good news for Obama, because it indicates that he has weathered the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy. The poll found folks had a favorable response to how Obama handled the racially charged sermons of Wright, even among those who are Clinton and McCain supporters.
As for likeability and electablity, Pew found that a large majority of White Democratic voters view Obama as “honest, inspiring, patriotic and down-to-earth.” He beats Clinton in almost every personal attribute tested in the survey, except patriotism.
Roughly twice as many White Dems, 30 percent, said the word “phony” describes Clinton, compared with 16 percent who felt it describes Obama. This gap, according to Pew, is the based on the larger perceptions of likeability; 43 percent of White Democratic voters say the phrase “hard-to-like” describes Clinton, while just 13 percent say it describes Obama.
Obama has lost some ground with Independent voters, who appear to be leaning toward McCain. Another piece of good news for McCain in this poll is that he has picked up more support from within his party.
Republicans in the survey seem ready to rally around their presidential pick. Sixty-four percent say Republicans will unite behind the Arizona senator, compared with 58 percent of likely voters who answered the question in February.
The craziest findings in the poll, despite the flack with Wright, Obama’s former pastor, who headed Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, is that one in 10 people still think Obama is a Muslim, and this is across party lines. Ten percent of Dems, 8 percent of Independents and 14 percent of Republicans surveyed identified Obama as a Muslim; a third said they didn’t know his religion.
People think they aren’t doing as good? There’s a big surprise. The Democrats are constantly telling us that we are being taken advantage of by the “rich”, “big oil” and the Republicans. They tell us that if we got an ARM and are losing our homes now, it is because the predatory lenders took advantage of us. Whatever happened to the idea that “I am responsible for me”? If I do better it is because I worked harder and smarter, if I don’t do as well, it is because I didn’t work hard enough or smart enough, nobody else gets the credit or blame for me. But enough people buy into what the Dems are telling them that America is dying from the “it’s not your fault” mentality
Pamela……How did you arrive at the candiates likeablity when you first started off talking about how Americans view the economy? This article is nothing more than another praise report for Obama. I can’t wait for him to lose!
Hey Naw, I have a degree, communicated eloquently, played the white man’s game etc. Not many of us are making it –the system is made for failure. Dont get me wrong we have to get on moving –but the real I dont even use drugs and I do my best to respect all so pimping and hustlin was not part of the plan, but ish a African man is hard press to get a job, aloan to start my own business. I resulted to saling drugs to survive not to live wonderfully or ghetto fab ish jus to make it you feeln me. It’s harder an is likely to get worse.
If you’re waiting on a politician to make your life better you’ve already lost. No politician regardless of the promises they make (or party)can do much at all for any one individual. The government can’t do something as simple as manage social security, why should you trust them at all to do anything meaningful that will help YOU.
I’m with you AAW. No man or human government can do what we need to have done for us today!
some old story here in the usa…the poor pay everything and the rich keep everything…it is a modern slave way of living…my people we alaways are promised rebate and never get them
as was mentioned before, we must take reponsibility for our own actions and not blame outside influences not matter how strong they are. stay strong.
Right on meka!
well all i got to say is who ever win is going to have a hek of a job on there hand tring to correct the mess that the present president have made. how he got in in the first place is still a baffle to me. he have about as much sense as a third grader. we are lucky america is still even here.