Six In Ten Blame Obama For Economic Situation: Obama Is Being Held Accountable

By Susan Duclos

In a USA Today/Gallup national poll finds that a majority of voters, 56 to 40 percent in swing states and 55 percent to 42 percent nationwide, say they are not better off today than they were four years ago.

In the Swing States Poll, just 14% call the current economy good. The overwhelming majority describe it as "only fair" (44%) or poor (41%). Economic woes are fueling unease about the country's direction. Seven of 10 in the swing states and 72% nationwide say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States. Just 28% in the swing states and 26% nationwide are satisfied.

The battleground states surveyed are Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin — competitive states most likely to swing the Electoral College.

Further down into the USA Today article on the poll shows that a majority doesn't think Obama has done as well as was expected in dealing with the economy and after nearly four years, Obama holds the majority of the blame:

 Among those who say they aren't better off than they were four years ago, six in 10 blame Obama — 33% holding him alone responsible and 28% citing him and Bush in combination — while 13% blame Bush alone. One in four hold neither responsible.

This meshes with Gallup's August 16, 2012 release showing that 60 percent disapprove and 36 percent approve of Obama's job performance on "The Economy."

In February 2009,  Obama said  on NBC's "Today" on February 2, 2009:

Obama: One nice thing about the situation I find myself in is that I will be held accountable. I've got four years.

Lauer: You're going to know quickly how people feel about what's happened.

Obama: That's exactly right. And a year from now I think people are going to see that we're starting to make some progress, but there's still going to be some pain out there. If I don't have this done in three years, then there's going to be a one-term proposition.

[WATCH]



From recent polling, it appears that Obama was correct, he is being held accountable for the "feeblest" recovery (Source- AP via Yahoo News) since the Great Depression (WW11) and in November, Obama  may have also predicted the outcome because it is quite possible he will be looking at a "one term proposition."

[Update] Here is Gallup's release on the poll.