Posted on 11/06/2014 12:40:59 PM PST by walford
The unemployment rate has fallen by nearly three percentage points and the U.S. economy has added 4.6 million jobs since President Obama won re-election in November 2012, but voters in the midterm elections gave him no credit for the improvement.
Analysis of exit polls from Tuesday’s elections shows that voters who say their finances are getting worse voted 2 to 1 for Republican candidates, and that 6 out of 10 voters were dissatisfied with the Obama administration’s management.
Obama pointed out Wednesday in his post-election press conference that although many economic indicators are improving, "there are still a lot of folks out there who are anxious and are hurting and are having trouble making ends meet, or are worried about their children’s future."
"And it’s my job to give them some confidence that this town can work to respond to some of those worries that folks have," Obama acknowledged, adding that "we haven’t done a good enough job convincing them of that. And I understand that."
Nevertheless, only 45 percent of voters listed the economy as the top problem facing the country, down from nearly 60 percent in 2012 and 63 percent in 2010. Seven in 10 said the economy was in bad shape, but that number also declined from previous elections.
President Obama said Wednesday that concerns about his administration might be dragging down voters' estimation of the recovery. "If they’ve been watching Washington over the last two, four years, what they’ve seen is a lot of arguing and a lot of gridlock but not a lot of concrete actions, at least legislatively, that have made a difference in their lives.”
Part of the problem is likely that many people have taken lower-paying jobs or have gone years without pay raises, problems reflected in the fact that median wages have barely kept pace with inflation over the past few years. The Census Bureau reported in September that the median household income in 2013 was effectively unchanged from 2012 and remained 8 percent below its 2007 level. More recent statistics have shown further stagnation in 2014.
"Despite economic growth, wages and income have still not gone up," Obama noted. "And that’s a long-term trend that we’ve seen for 10, 20, 30 years. And it makes people worried about not just their own situation but whether their kids are going to be doing better than they did, which is the essence of the American dream."
Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, also suggested that sluggish wage growth was at the heart of Democratic candidates’ struggles in an interview on MSNBC Wednesday.
"I think that there is a seething anger by the middle class at Washington, and I think that both parties need to listen to that,” he said, adding that “it's about the middle class' pocketbooks, and it's about our ability to come together where we can."
But whatever the underlying cause of voters’ negative perceptions about the economy, it’s clear that the economy has colored their perception of Obama and the direction of the country as a whole.
Almost half of all voters said that they expect life for the next generation to be worse than it is today, with only one in five expecting it to be better.
“This pessimism about the state of the economy also appears to be strongly affecting Americans' views of the direction of the country as a whole,” wrote political scientists Monika McDermott and Stanley Feldman in a post-election analysis for CBS. “Voters do not appear to be seeing the same positive signs that many economists do. As with the economy, those concerned about the direction of the country voted overwhelmingly for Republicans in House elections.”
Again, the Leftist elites preach to us that we reject their policies because we're too stupid, too ignorant and perhaps too evil as well. By definition, we couldn't possibly be informed, intelligent and good if we reject redistribution/central planning.
The percentage of working-age adults is the lowest since America was recovering from Jimmy Carter. And the "low" unemployment rate doesn't include the under-employed and those who have given up looking altogether. The percentage of full-time to part-time jobs has flipped from being the majority to the minority.
People know if they cannot find work, their health care costs more and provides less coverage; they are not going to buy statistics telling them that they are better off under Obamanation.
Employers are keeping their workers in the part-time threshold to keep them exempt from Obamacare. So workers must work multiple low-paying jobs that have no benefits -- and are thus in effect working unpaid overtime with no benes.
Employers are getting more labor for less money. People who do have jobs are expected to make up for the workers who have been laid off -- or not been hired at all.The stock market is doing great under this paradigm.
All of this is by design. They are hoping that 2 generations of public school indoctrination and media/entertainment industry propaganda have will convince the American people that freedom is to blame for all of this.
Then they will accept more of the poison that got us here in the first place: collectivism.
I think the voters are waking up to the fact that all the economic numbers coming from his administration are lies.
And he's getting MUCH MORE than he deserves!
Why would they? the economy has been improving IN SPITE of Obama. He’s done everything he could to choke of growth. The growth we have seen (slowest post-recession recovery ever) is a testament to American business and American workers.
His policies inhibited recovery creating the worst “recovery” on record since WWII. So he wants credit for that?
I give 0bama full credit for the worst recovery ever.
Why should they? The economy is a disaster.
Giving Obama the credit commits the fallacy of too few alternatives.
I think your statement is probably closer to the truth than the BS in this article.
sounds like more justification of nonsense from a bitter, angry leftist.
Actually, voters did give Obama credit for the economy. The economy sucks.
Claiming that unemployment is going down when people are dropping out of the labor force in droves because THERE ARE NO JOBS is not fooling anyone but the low information voters who all voted for the Democrats anyway.
Headline above same story during a Republican Administration:
Voters lash out at President for disastrous economic performance
wages and income have still not gone up,
ANd they NEVER WILL, That is the SOLE Purpose of having a debt based monetary system and unlimited credit expansion. To Destroy the Middle Class and make everybody poor and dependent on Government. Remember folks this Started a long time ago, just because there was a quiet period and an unprecedented expansion of the Middle Class in the 40’s through 1965 means jack. We killed that goose with the War on the Family Act by LBJ, which incidentally forced Nixon to declare Bankruptcy in 1971. Since that day on August 15 1971 it has been pedal to the metal for the most part regarding Theft of VALUE (Inflation).
The unemployment rate has fallen by nearly three percentage points
They can write that with a straight face???????????And they wonder why no one has respect for the press.
He gets all the credit. That’s why we all hammered the rats, who support Obamas economy. Give credit where it’s due!
The serfs are not bowing down to their Marxist overlords.
Pray America is waking
Voters did not buy our propaganda
*correction* “...EMPLOYED working-age adults...”
Exactly right.
I compare the current economy to an automobile trying to accelerate with the brakes firmly on.
OBozo = brakes
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