Poll: Obama Doing Woeful Job Selling Stimulus

A huge swath of the American public has either not personally benefited from the stimulus package or not heard of the Obama administration's signature economic policy helping their local community, according to a new study of public opinion.

A report released on Tuesday by the group, New American Media, provides some startling and troubling data points for the president and his political advisers.

"More than four-fifths of all Americans do not know of any small business in their community or neighborhood that has received a government loan over the last six months," the report finds.

Fifty one percent of the public said they were not aware of newly-created projects in their community or region of their state -- such as new roads and highways or new military bases, ports, bridges or tunnels. Only 44 percent said they were aware of such projects.

Moreover, 80 percent of the public said that the net amount they receive in their regular paycheck from work or their take-home pay has either decreased or stayed the same since the stimulus was passed while only 11 percent said it had increased. The inclusion of tax cuts in the stimulus package was designed to provide immediate relief to middle-class Americans.

New American Media's findings raise a lose-lose specter for the administration: Either the president's signature economic policy isn't having the broad impact that was envisioned, or the White House has done a woeful job selling the package. The study's authors suggest the latter.

"Our poll shows the Obama Administration has not done a good job of letting Americans know about opportunities that exist because of the stimulus package," said Sandy Close Executive Director, of New America Media (NAM), the nation's largest coalition of ethnic news outlets. "Across the country, the Recovery Act has made billions of dollars available for extended unemployment benefits and health insurance for laid off workers. It has appropriated money for small businesses and arts organizations. It has prevented thousands of teachers from being laid off and kept firehouses from closing. Our poll shows -- across the racial and ethnic spectrum -- most Americans remain unaware of these opportunities and as a result are not able to take advantage of them."

The data also portends some serious political hurdles for the administration, as it begins to mount its argument, in anticipation of the 2010 midterm elections, that its policies have made the country and the American people better off.

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Forty-seven percent of the population said that the stimulus either had no effect or made the economy worse. Only 40 percent said it had made the economy better. And while 66 percent of all respondents said they felt optimistic about their personal financial situation in 2010, 46 percent of respondents said they thought the American economy is on the wrong track.

And, in a perception that could prove toxic for the president, 40 percent of the public said they thought "only" large corporations and institutions in the United States will benefit from the stimulus.

Here is the study:

stimulus -

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Comments

[BGeeOne]

It sounds like this job stimulas as the government wants to call it is missed titled. It would sound better to call it the government's "credit default swap" program.

[mackbolan]

would someone tell me why a private paving contractors job is more important than anyone elses...

[Sadbone]

Hate to break it to ya'll, but American Media is a sham organization. Don't believe me? Ask Lou Dobbs. Google it.

[VikingQuest]

Sham organization or not . . .

Do you believe people really think the stimulus is creating millions of jobs?

The idea of the stim package had less than 50% support when it waspassed.

[FebM]

Just saw a road sign next to my subdivision with the stimulus logo repairing some broken bridge in GA. I guess its coming to a neighborhood .....

[coliwabl]

Stimulus? What Stimulus? I swear I heard that there was going to be some kind of stimulus for mainstreet, USA. I've heard of the plans that bailed out the banks, auto makers and Wall Street but have not seen any sign of new money for our community. Businesses here are closing, schools have lost students and our tax base is reduced by the number of folks who have lost their jobs and homes.

So, far, the Obama presidency is looking like one of the biggest dupes on the American public, in US history. Even bigger than the Bush presidency.

[farii]

so these people in the community go around asking small business owners ..''hey did you get stimulus money???

[Countdown09]

My friend was laid off her job 6 months ago and had to buy CORBA insurance the first two months it was $455 dollars, that was more than half of what she was getting from unemployment. The third month she received a letter stating that due to a government subside (from the stimulus plan) her payment was being reduced $149.00 a month. So there's one example of where some of the stimulus money went. Lucky for her she's found a job but here's the kicker.....her contribution to her employer based health plan is $160 a month.

[Mitsy]

No. Americans are doing a woeful job 'buying' the stimilus. thanks to people like the texas governers, who on a sudden enlightenment, wants the stimilus fund to go their after they have denounced, refused, declined the stimuluis funds and ideas. pathetic

[FebM]

Ok, can we allow this dude to have maybe 28hr a day, 9 days a week then he can meet some of OUR demands? geeze, how about calling your rep and inquiring about the stimulus?

[Jmz4gtu]

I'm confused. How are people not noticing an increase in their paycheck due to tax cuts? The tax cuts happened, and so either they're exemptions you have to file for in March, or they're not being reflected in withholdings and people will get it back when they file in March. Or people really aren't paying attention to the paychecks, which seems unlikely these days.

[alexdog]

Who was to get the tax cut? I have googled and cannot find. Sorry if I overlooked it - all I could find was the 95% of households and then the campaign promises.

[Joe Caps]

Yes liberals, keep running with that "our polices are so awesome but the american public is just to dumb to see it" meme.

That will undoubtedly lead to a perm dem majority.

haha

[PlainBread]

Polls? You ask wrong question, you'll get wrong answer. But it looks like they purposely did it.

[cgracec]

Um...the problem isn't that the stimulus was woefully marketed, the problem is that Americans choose to be woefully UNINFORMED. Unless Obama personally hand-delivered cash to each person, you would still continue to hear that the stimulus never worked. People don't know if the stimulus worked because they don't bother to do some research or be observant (for example, the highway reconstruction in my state is being funded by the stimulus, as per the signs on the highway - of course, most people are too busy putting on lipstick or texting while driving to notice). Unless a news organization blasted it all over, they wouldn't bother to find out.

This is a growing problem. I think that Obama's biggest mistake is overestimating the intelligence and rationality of Americans. He thought that Americans would use the website or read information about this stuff, but clearly he was wrong. Same thing happened with the healthcare plan. Instead of rationally looking up the facts, people just want to town halls or had Fox News or Sarah Palin spoon-feed the "information" to them. Nothing will change until the American people get off their a$$e$ and, at the very least, get informed.

[smokescreen]

Best response I have read in days and oh so sadly true. Great post. Thanks for identifying the single most critical impediment to reform.

[cgracec]

Thanks! I am glad someone agrees with me!

[Joe Caps]

LOL How's that multiplier workin' out for ya libs?

HAHAHAHAHAH

[AAKAlan]

Personally, I believe that people who root for the failure of America and find pleasure and humor in it are traitors.

[jade7243]

The headline states, "Poll: OBAMA Doing Woeful Job of Selling Stimulus." [emphasis mine.]

However, ""Our poll shows the OBAMA ADMINISTRATION has not done a good job of letting Americans know about opportunities that exist because of the stimulus package," said Sandy Close Executive Director, of New America Media (NAM), the nation's largest coalition of ethnic news outlets," [emphasis mine] is what the story actually says.

You can say I'm picking nits. Fine. But there is a big difference between stating one person is not doing a good job, versus a group of people (his administration). And nowhere other than the headline does anyone use the word "woeful."

I know the meme revolves around Obama not doing enough, doing too much, not doing your priority, not doing your priority your way. But seriously... 24-7-365 of this nonsense is too much.

Let Obama be Obama and let Obama do Obama's job. If this was 2012, and you wanted to trash the President for his poor job, fine, that's an election year. But really, you all have been complaining since before he took office. C'mon, give it a rest.