Q-poll: On Economy, Medicare, Americans Don’t Trust GOP

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, July 14, 2011
CONTACT: Jaclyn Falkowski
(860)560-1775 / (860)712-7413 cell

Q-poll: On Economy, Medicare, Americans Don’t Trust GOP

Place blame on former Pres. Bush, congressional Republicans

This morning’s national Quinnipiac University poll showed that a majority of Americans have little faith in the ability of congressional Republicans to handle the country’s economic problems and would blame Republicans should the debt limit not be raised.

Forty-five percent of respondents said that they trust President Barack Obama more than congressional Republicans to handle our nation’s economy. And they trust President Obama to do a better job than Republicans in Congress in handling Medicare by 50 percent, compared to 37 percent.

“From Washington to Hartford, the GOP remains squarely out-of-touch with the majority of Americans,” said Connecticut Democratic State Party Chair Nancy DiNardo. “Just yesterday, Republican leader Mitch McConnell said that he refused to help get President Obama reelected by putting the GOP in a position where they co-own a bad economy. That’s not leadership; that’s putting the country at risk in order to score political points, and the American public isn’t buying it.”

Continued DiNardo, “All of their rhetoric simply does not resonate with the public. Connecticut’s congressional delegation has stood firmly against the game the GOP is playing with our future. We need more people like John Larson, Jim Himes, Rosa DeLauro, Chris Murphy and Joe Courtney to stand up for the people and do what’s best for the country, instead of what might be best for winning a presidential election.”

Despite GOP efforts to pin the entire economic crisis on President Obama, the American public doesn’t agree. A majority of voters—54 percent compared to 27 percent—say that they blame former President George W. Bush more than President Obama for the continuing effects of the recession.

While President Obama’s approval rating—47 percent approve to 46 percent disapprove—remained unchanged from the June 9 Q-poll, 65 percent of respondents said they disapprove of the way congressional Republicans are doing their job, compared with 26 percent who approve. Nearly half—48 percent—said it would be the GOP’s fault if an agreement to raise the debt ceiling and prevent the country from defaulting was not reached.

Voters also say that President Obama’s proposals to raise revenues are “closing loopholes,” not “tax hikes;” 67 percent favor increasing taxes on wealthy corporations and individuals as part of an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. Sixty two percent said it’s more important to reduce unemployment rates than to reduce the federal budget deficit.

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Jaclyn M. Falkowski
Communications Director
Connecticut Democratic Party
860-560-1775 / 860-712-7413 cell
jfalkowski@ctdems.org
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