Rasmussen
What
They Told Us: Reviewing Last
Week’s Key Polls
Saturday, March 09, 2013
28%
Say U.S. Heading In Right
Direction
Generic
Congressional Ballot:
Democrats 43%, Republicans 40%
40%
Rate Personal Finances as Good
or Excellent
Despite
record stock market gains
and a slightly improved jobs picture this week, Americans still express
a lot
of uncertainty about the economy and the future in general.
Like
long-term economic confidence
a month ago, short-term confidence in the U.S. economy is now at a new
low.
Just 25% of Americans think the economy will be stronger a year from
today.
At
week’s end, just 14% of
consumers rated the U.S. economy as good or excellent, while 46% deemed
it
poor. Among investors, 18% scored the economy as good or excellent.
Forty
percent (40%) rated it poor.
Americans
don’t have much hope for
the stock and housing markets either. Only 20% think the stock market
will be
higher a year from now. Most (54%) still believe it will take more than
three
years for the housing industry to fully recover from the downturn that
began in
2008.
Just
28% of voters think the
country is heading in the right direction. That’s down six points from
the
previous week and the lowest level measured since August of last year.
More
Americans than ever (39%)
believe it is no longer possible for anyone in the United States to
work their
way out of poverty. Fifty-nine percent (59%) say it's no longer
possible for
someone to work hard in this country and get rich.
The
Rasmussen Employment Index
which measures worker confidence slipped almost two points in February
but
remains above monthly levels measured for much of 2012. Still, February
was the
third straight month that reported hirings outnumbered reported layoffs
after
five months in which the opposite was true.
Fifty-four
percent (54%) of voters
predict the U.S. health care system is likely to get worse over the
next couple
of years, the highest level of pessimism to date. The key requirements
of
President Obama’s health care law will take effect by 2014
But
Scott Rasmussen notes in his
latest weekly newspaper column that the president’s health care law
will soon
be challenged by “the creativity of Americans determined to gain more
control
over their own health care decisions." Like the benefits consultant who
creatively interpreted a 1978 tax law to create 401(k) plans, Scott
expects
that “entrepreneurs will find provisions in the health care law to meet
this
consumer demand. The end result will be a system much different than
the
president hopes for -- and his opponents fear.”
In
recent months, Obama has enjoyed
some of the best job approval ratings of his presidency, but his job
approval
index rating fell into negative double digits this week for the first
time
since Election Day.
Fifty-one
percent (51%) think the
president is doing a good or excellent job handling national security
issues.
Forty-four percent (44%) feel that way about the job he’s doing with
the
economy.
Fewer
voters than ever (35%) think
the U.S. economy is fair to the middle class, down eight points from
43% in
January. Also at its lowest level is the 43% who think the U.S. economy
overall
is fair.
What
America Thinks is adding new
affiliates. The show is now being carried on WKYT in Lexington, KY, and
KBTV in
Beaumont, TX. On April 20, it will begin airing on KLAS in Las Vegas.
Joining
the list in the fall will be WICZ in Binghamton, NY, KVUE in Austin,
TX, and
KBJR in Duluth, MN. With these additions, What America Thinks has 67
affiliates, and more new signings will be announced soon. Find a
station near
you
Sixty
percent (60%) of Americans
believe middle-class Americans pay a larger share of their income in
taxes than
the wealthy do, but just 50% favor a tax system where everyone pays the
same
percentage of their income in taxes.
In
order to lower income tax rates,
22% of voters believe all tax deductions should be eliminated for all
Americans. But 70% think it’s at least somewhat likely that wealthy
Americans
will give less money to charity if deductions for charitable donations
are
reduced.
Americans
appear to be keeping pace
with last year when it comes to paying their income taxes, but they’re
more
optimistic about getting a refund this year. At the start of the week,
38% had
filed their taxes for this year.
Voters
continue to believe it's
better to cut taxes and spending than to raise them.
As
Congress and the president
struggle over ways to reduce the federal budget deficit, 62% are
worried that
they will raise taxes too much. Fifty-eight percent (58%) worry that
they won’t
cut government spending enough.
Despite
the warning cries over the
sequester cuts in government spending, 42% of voters feel the sequester
didn’t
cut federal spending enough. While official Washington warned that the
sequester would harm the poor and vulnerable, upper income Americans
are most
likely to believe that the cuts were too severe. Additionally, those
with
higher incomes are also the most likely to think that it will have a
negative
impact on them personally.
Forty-four
percent (44%) of all
voters think the sequester spending cuts will have a positive impact or
no
impact on their own lives in the long term.
The
sequester hoopla hasn't changed
views of Congress: Its positive ratings remain in single digits for the
third
straight month. Just eight percent (8%) of voters think Congress is
doing a
good or excellent job.
Only
nine percent (9%) believe the
average member of Congress listens to the voters he or she represents
more than
to congressional party leaders. Sixty-three percent (63%) agree that no
matter
how bad things are, Congress can always make them worse.
Democrats
continue to lead
Republicans on the Generic Congressional Ballot as they have every week
since
last November’s elections.
Only
41% know that the primary
focus of the Simpson-Bowles Commission was deficit reduction, while 36%
are not
sure. Twenty-three percent (23%) thought it had some other focus. “This
is just
the latest data to highlight the gap between the American people and
their
political leaders,” according to Scott Rasmussen. “In Washington, D.C.,
the
focus is on the tactical moves by political insiders. Voters tune out
because
they have seen it all before.” He added that “voters are looking for
substantive solutions that can be discussed openly and make sense to
people
outside the Beltway.”
Read
the rest of the article at Rasmussen
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