Public Not Buying Media Attempts To Blame Obama For Recession: Poll

As noted a few days ago, the Obama administration got through the month of March with the public still fixing the blame for the economic downturn on everybody else:

The number of Americans who believe that the nation is headed in the right direction has roughly tripled since Barack Obama's election, and the public overwhelmingly blames the excesses of the financial industry, rather than the new president, for turmoil in the economy, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

And if you're keeping score at home, when it came to who should take a "great deal" or a "good amount" of the blame, the polling went a little something like this:

* 80% - banks/financial institutions * 80% -large business corporations * 72% - consumers * 70% - Bush administration * 26% - Obama administration

And that perception has been pretty constant, though God knows, it hasn't been for lack of trying! There have been numerous attempts to foist ownership of the entire debacle onto the Obama administration. Over the course of a few months, we've heard about "Obama recessions," and "Obama bear markets," and shown charts that seem to have forgotten when the economic downturn began. And of course, this has led the Obama White House to protest on numerous occasions that they "inherited" the economic downturn, leading your White House press corps to mutter and cluck over the increasing pettiness of such recitations. There was also that really fun period where the daily downward motion of the Dow was blamed by more and more people on the White House -- until, of course, the Dow trended upwards for a number of days. Then you didn't hear those theories about how one man could alter the market's fortunes so much anymore.

Media Matters For America, who documented many of these instances themselves, released a statement on the Post/ABC Poll:

"This poll shows that despite what they are hearing from the media, the public overwhelmingly blames banks, business, and the Bush administration, not President Obama," said Erikka Knuti, a spokeswoman for Media Matters. "The media have repeatedly attached Obama's name to the economic crisis and all but erased the role of the previous administration from their coverage. The American people aren't falling for it."

Naturally, the lack of blame has come with the accompanying benefit of broad public support for the implementation of the White House's various policies to combat the economic downturn, from the stimulus package to the more recent toxic assets plan. Of course, that goodwill may yet come to nothing if these various plans only end up proving Paul Krugman correct!

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Comments

[cdchicago]

Perhaps they should try better liars. I understand Rod Blagojevich is available and, frankly, cheap these days.

[lightningbolt]

I keep saying it again and again. STOP LISTENING TO THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA. Get your news from non-mainstream internet sources.

[Horus45]

This should finally put to rest an notion that the Media is liberal!

[sheikwil4]

I don't know why the anyone ever thought the media was bias in favor of President Obama. They are the ones that have aired every ugly lie, hateful, racist comments, pictures and anything negative about President Obama and his wife. So I don't know why anyone thought the media was in favor of him. All the networks have been hateful to him, including CNN, MSNBC, FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC, all of them and they continue to this day to show anything negative about him and have anyone talking against him on their networks. They have commentators, Reporters, just out and out idiots on everyday to say something negative about him, then they don't allow anyone who could refute any of the crap on. The only people that may call them on their lies are Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, the rest are all too happy to have negative commentary about President Obama, but thank goodness the American people didn't fall for it, we may not agree with everything he is doing, but it's no reason to be hateful and nasty if we disagree. I'm a believer and proud to say that I believe in God and that to many people are praying for the President and our country for him to fail and God is still in charge of this world and not man and the President will succeed and so will our country.

[Horus45]

Rachel and Keith are the only ones I watch anymore.

[itsme23]

The American people are all paying attention, and they know what they see. They get it. They are so used to being lied to, so now when they have a president that goes around the media and speaks directly to them not to mention takes up the causes he promised them he would contend with, yeah I should say his ratings would be high.

[OKSunny]

RE: Public not Buying Media Attemps to Blame Obama for Recession Poll Shows Public not Buying It: HELL YEAH WE'RE NOT

The ONE good thing about Bush is that he got people to pay more attention to their Gov't and how corrupt it can be if ran by the wrong type of people, he got people pissed off, and ready for something(one) different, & then Obama.....what can I say...I have a crush on Obama...not becuase of his looks, but because he is so genuine and they way he treats his wife...Im sorry (maybe Im a total girl) but the way that he treats his wife tells you a lot about him as a person.
He's an honest to God good guy and he's really trying to do the right and responsible thing...not everyone is going to agree with his policies...but his outlook seems to be "if i'm helping more people than I am huritng then it'sOk" My motto exactly.....GO OBAMA

[bliss infinite]

"The ONE good thing about Bush is that he got people to pay more attention to their Gov't and how corrupt it can be if ran by the wrong type of people, he got people pissed off, and ready for something(one) different,"

Bush did say he was a uniter not a divider.

[dmspeech]

Think of the Bell Curve when you think of the 26% that think this recession is Obama's fault. They're the ones who made a D or F in the class

[lvdragonlady]

Not only that, they are the same 26% that always show up, on any poll, against OUR Prez and/or the dems, so this is not surprising.

[Jacqueline3]

Most of the American people are paying attention.

[JKPHILLY]

If anyone tries to pretend that Obama who has not been in office for 100 days is to blame for the current economic downfall they crazy! How can he be held responsible? It was George W's lack of leadership and attempt at making his already rich friends richer-tax relief for the rich-what a joke! This whole economic fallout is not Obama's fault and he is trying every day to stop the flow.
Can we give him a few days to fix what GW had 8 years to screw up?

[singpcf5]

senate and congress was controlled bt dems since 1995. Bame WHO??

[TheronMarx]

uh maybe you should check your facts, a simple google search tells us that actually the Republicans have been the majority in the Senate for the majority of the last 14 years (since 1995) and the have been the majority in the House for the majority of the last 14 years (since 1995) as well - but then again, you are a Republican and we all know that the facts are just a minor inconvenience when you can just waive your revisionist history wand - get a clue, t(roll)!

[stevi]

The "media" are a bunch of people who want to be the news. The idea that news is to be reported is out of fashion with these egotists. "What if" and "speculation" have replaced journalism and I wouldn't give you a penny for any of the "liberal media". BTW where did this idea that the "media" is liberal come from anyway? I don't think they are liberal, I think they are competitors trying to outdo one another. They only want to draw attention to themselves, it has nothing to do with reporting, NOTHING!

Having said that, I do love Rachel, the policy wonk, and I have been constantly amazed by Keith, who isn't in jail for tell a little truth on the TV machine. Now these guys are liberal and don't try to convince us otherwise. I can respect that.

[Aesthete]

Amen.

[christimarie]

George Bush and the globalism agenda put us in this position. When he decided that manufacturing, large and small, would be pushed out of this country, the foundation was laid for the economic crisis. The wall street a$$es, led by the bankers and international corporations looking for slave labor deals, stripped this country of its wealth. A country MUST have a manufacturing base that produces real goods. Now we are inundated with toxic, cheap products from China and other slave labor countries with low, low standards of living. We can't even buy these products. Our jobs are gone. The last administration sold us out to borrow money for his war. He sold us out to China. I wish the American people would give Bush a one way ticket to China, no returns accepted. They must love him there.

[Fava]

I don't know if these polls are a tool of the so called "liberal" media or not. However, what I do sense happening by listening and talking with other Americans is a new sense of activisim (sorely needed) based on daily revelations of how hard working Americans have been screwed over by a clan of financial and political miscreants who, complicit with the media, created the conditions we are suffering today.

I don't blame President Obama for the fix we're in. God, if he had that much influence why would he have run for President? I also think it's going to take a long time for us to dig out from under this global mess. But I do believe, based on everything that we see coming to light, that we have been slumbering in a false period of prosperity with greedy criminals taking advantage of an uregulated environment to line their pockets at the expense of everyone else. I think the media has participated in a cover of smoke screens playing up stories on race, immigration, muslims and other flashpoints to deflect from the real issue: rampant greed at the top of the food chain (more for the haves, less for the have nots). Boy were they successful in diverting our attention.

I commend every Americann who is taking an objective look at our country and taking an opportunity to make thier voices heard.

[mmgbizgirl]

This is why traditional news groups are crashing and burning. People are tired of real news agencies delivering FAKE NEWS while fake news shows deliver REAL NEWS.

[mmgbizgirl]

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice...

I DON'T THINK SO!!!!

[Taaif Mehadi]

YA believe it or not but the public isnt being fooled 3 times in a row, we might be somewhat stupid but we're not that freaking stupif, f-off MSM, full of sh*t.

[harriscrl3]

Of course its Obama's fault the Media knows best I mean their track record from the war in Iraq up to the corruption and FRAUD that was the Bush administration just proves that we should trust them with the bim bo questions and bar bie and ken looking reporters.

I could see if they put forth the theory that its Bill Clinton's fault but they WILL NOT go there because to say it was Clinton's fault is to say that Lax regulation is what got us in this hole. It would be to ADMIT the truth and these people wouldnt know truth if they had se x with it every night.

Carol