Public Opinion Snapshot: Who’s to Blame?

The public is dissatisfied with the economy and a lot of this translates into dissatisfaction with the Obama administration. But the public has not lost sight of who is mostly to blame for the country’s current economic troubles. In a just-released ABC News/Washington Post poll, 60 percent of the public thought the Bush administration deserved a great deal or a good amount of blame for the country’s economic situation, compared to 42 percent who thought the Obama administration deserved that level of blame.

Similarly, in an early September CNN poll, 53 percent of the public thought Bush and the Republicans “are more responsible for the country’s current economic problems,” compared to just 33 percent who thought Obama and the Democrats were more responsible.

Conservatives may want to believe the public has forgotten how bad the Bush administration was and blame only the Obama administration for the country’s ills. But that’s clearly not the case.

Ruy Teixeira is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. To learn more about his public opinion analysis go to the Media and Progressive Values page and the Progressive Studies program page of our website.