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What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls
Saturday, June 16, 2012 

When is bad news not bad news? Or at least not as shocking as it sounds? This week, it was when the government announced that household net worth fell 40% between 2007 and 2010, but most Americans already knew that because they’ve been living it every day. 

All Rasmussen Reports major economic indicators – consumer and investor confidence, housing, personal finances, employment, you name it – plunged in recent years and are still far from full recovery as Scott Rasmussen notes in his latest syndicated newspaper column.   “Consumers rate their personal finances the same as they did on the day President Obama was inaugurated,” he explains. “If that doesn’t improve by November, there’s likely to be a new president in January.” 

On Friday, the Rasmussen Consumer Index which measures daily consumer confidence fell to its lowest level in three-and-a-half months. Just 23% of consumers say their personal finances are improving, while nearly half (49%) say they are getting worse. Investors don’t feel much better. 

Over half of Americans now lack confidence in the U.S. banking system, and more than ever (42%) are at least somewhat worried about losing the money they have in the bank. 

Most Americans also continue to lack confidence in the Federal Reserve Board’s ability to keep interest rates down and inflation under control, and they overwhelmingly expect to pay more for the groceries they buy. 

The majority of voters still favor repeal of the president’s national health care law in part because they feel it will increase the federal budget deficit. 

Fifty percent (50%) of voters still believe the government bailouts of the financial industry were bad for the country, but voters are now almost evenly divided on the effectiveness of the auto company bailouts. Perceptions of the auto bailouts turn quickly negative, however, when voters realize the government is still likely to lose billions of dollars because of them. 

There’s good news and bad news in the economy for Mitt Romney this past week. The good news for the Republican challenger is that voters by a 50% to 42% margin continue to trust him more than the president when it comes to handling the economy. The bad news is that most voters trust former President Bill Clinton more than Romney and Obama when it comes to economic issues. Clinton recently got himself in hot water in his own party when he disagreed with the current occupant of the White House and called for an extension of the so-called Bush tax cuts, but most voters support extending those tax cuts. 

Most voters also still trust themselves more on economic issues than either the president or Romney. 

Obama was under fire on a couple other fronts this past week. Many congressional Republicans suspect his administration of leaking top secret information to enhance his national security credentials and help his reelection campaign. The president denies the charge. Senior members of the House and Senate intelligence committees from both parties have called for an investigation, and a plurality (47%) of voters now believes those leaks will hurt Obama’s reelection chances. 

In response to news outlets publishing classified national security information, lawmakers in Congress are drafting legislation to limit access to such information and to create new penalties for revealing it. Seventy-two percent (72%) of voters say when media outlets release secret government documents, they are hurting national security. 

Attorney General Eric Holder is being threatened with a congressional subpoena by Republicans in Congress and at week’s end was negotiating with them to provide information on the Justice Department’s so-called Fast and Furious program, an effort to catch illegal gun runners that instead put guns in the hands of Mexican drug criminals.  Holder continues to be the most unpopular member of the president’s Cabinet, and 40% now think he should resign. Twenty-seven percent (27%) oppose his resignation, but another 33% are undecided. 

Adding to Holder’s unpopularity are his challenges of states seeking to prevent voter fraud and to crack down on illegal immigration. We’ll let you know early in the week how voters feel about the president’s announcement late Friday that he is easing the deportation policy for young illegal immigrants. 

Although slightly more voters believe Obama is governing on a bipartisan basis, 60% say it’s at least somewhat likely that the next president will be a Republican, including 34% who see this scenario as Very Likely. 

Is Wisconsin in play? Following the recent failed recall effort against Republican Governor Scott Walker, Romney now leads the president for the first time in Wisconsin where the latter’s support has fallen to its lowest level to date.  It’s Romney 47%, Obama 44%. In March, the president had an 11-point lead. 

But Obama’s ahead 50% to 42% in Rasmussen Reports’ first look at the presidential race in Michigan. The two are in a near tie in the critical battleground state of Iowa. 

Four years ago, after wrapping up the Democratic nomination, Obama led John McCain every single day during the month of June. His average lead was five percentage points. He eventually won by seven. In the first 16 days of June, Romney has held the lead in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll 13 times, the candidates have been tied twice, and Obama has been on top once. 

It’s a long way until Election Day, but right now the trends are moving in Romney’s direction, Scott Rasmussen explains in a new radio update. Scott is now doing three Rasmussen Report radio updates every weekday, syndicated nationally by the WOR Radio Network. Check out this week’s radio updates here.] 

While the presidential race grabs more and more headlines, voters continue to believe overwhelmingly that in terms of being a good citizen, it is more important to do volunteer work for church and community organizations than it is to get involved in politics and political campaigns. Only 16% disagree and put political involvement first. 

More voters than ever would rather be called a good citizen than a patriot, but a plurality thinks they’re really one and the same. 

Speaking of work, ask Americans who should get paid more, and they continue to believe the hardest workers should take home bigger checks than those with greater seniority or a higher level of education. If two workers work for the same company at the same job and put in the same hours, 71% believe the one who gets more done should be paid more. 

Republicans remain slightly ahead of Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot. Voters like the top congressional leaders a little more this month—or rather, they dislike them a little less. 

Key to the dysfunctional nature of Congress that upsets most voters is a Political Class committed to defending the status quo and standing in the way of real economic change, Scott Rasmussen argues in his latest book, The People’s Money: How the American People Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt . Voters, he says, are ready to support the kind of long-term thoughtful changes needed to balance the budget and eliminate the federal debt. 

Read the rest of this article at Rasumussen