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UNDERREPORTED STORY OF THE WEEK: Polls Show 45% of Americans Say Cancel Rest Of Stimulus
Story Highlights: With only 5% of the stimulus money deployed, latest polls show Americans want the Stimulus canceled, and want deeper tax cuts • Only 31% of Americans believe the new government spending in the stimulus package creates new jobs. Forty-eight percent (48%) say the stimulus spending does not create jobs, and 21% are not sure.
Forty-five percent (45%) of Americans say the rest of the new government spending authorized in the $787-billion economic stimulus plan should now be canceled. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 36% disagree and 20% are not sure.
According to news reports, only $36 billion of the stimulus plan had been spent as of late May.
Just 20% of adults say the tax cuts included in the stimulus plan should be canceled while 55% disagree. The stimulus plan includes $288 billion in tax cuts.
While there is a wide partisan gap on the question of stimulus spending, there is little partisan disagreement on maintaining the tax cuts.
President Obama on Monday vowed to speed up the pace of stimulus spending and said the money will help “create or save” 600,000 more jobs this summer.
However, only 31% of Americans believe the new government spending in the stimulus package creates new jobs. Forty-eight percent (48%) say the stimulus spending does not create jobs, and 21% are not sure.
Americans have mixed feelings about whether speeding up the new government spending in the stimulus package will help the economy. Thirty-nine percent (39%) say the increased spending will be good for the economy, but 44% say it will be bad. Eight percent (8%) think it will have no impact.
A plurality of government employees believe speeding up the stimulus will be good for the economy. However, those who work in the private sector strongly disagree.
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Only 31% of U.S. voters believe the economic stimulus package has helped the economy. That’s down from 38% when it first passed in February.
For the first time in years, voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on the handling of the economy.
Fifty-three percent (53%) of Americans believe that increases in government spending are generally bad for the economy. For nearly four-out-of-five U.S. voters, the unwillingness of politicians to control government spending is a bigger problem than the public’s resistance to more taxes.
Most voters continue to worry that the federal government will do too much in reacting to the country’s current economic problems.
As for canceling the rest of the stimulus spending, most Republicans and say cancel it while most Democrats disagree. Unaffiliated adults are more closely divided, but 44% believe the spending should be stopped. Most investors also say the new spending should be canceled.
No Republicans in the House voted for the stimulus, plan and just three GOP senators supported it. Because of the political backlash from his vote for the stimulus package, Republican Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania switched parties and became a Democrat to improve his chances of reelection next year.
Most voters predicted that Congress would pass the stimulus plan without knowing what was in it, as many legislators later acknowledged. Sixty percent (60%) also believed the plan was not a bipartisan effort but was instead mostly what congressional Democrats wanted since they control both the House and Senate. Poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports. For more polling information, click the link below for Rasmussen Reports. Rasmussen is the most trusted name in American Polling.
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