Posted on 12/17/2012 5:14:48 PM PST by CutePuppy
A mood of economic gloom hangs over the nation as President Obama and Republican leaders scramble to strike a deficit deal that avoids automatic tax hikes and spending cuts, according to a new poll for The Hill.
The poll, conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, found nearly 6-in-10 people (59 percent) feel the country is on the wrong track. It also showed people are deeply pessimistic about their chances for future prosperity, with 54 percent saying they believe their children will be worse off as adults than their parents.
The poll results cast a shadow over talks in Washington aimed at averting the “fiscal cliff” of $500 billion in tax hikes and $109 billion in automatic spending cuts set to take effect Jan. 1.
Barely a month after Obama won a second term, and even as the nation continues to make modest job gains, fewer than 1-in-3 (31 percent) say the country is on the right track.
Only 34 percent of people feel they will be better off at the end of Obama’s second term than they are right now. And just 16 percent believe a better economic future awaits their children when they grow up.
The dour sentiment is particularly striking among Republicans, who were crestfallen over GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s defeat on Nov. 6.
Among voters who identified themselves as Republicans, 87 percent said the country is on the wrong track and a mere 8 percent said it is on the right track.
Seven-in-10 Republicans believe they will be worse off at the end of Obama’s presidency, and 80 percent said their children’s future is bleaker than their own.
Only 4 percent of Republicans think their children will be better off.
By contrast, Democrats are in a somewhat sunnier — though not overwhelmingly upbeat — post-election mood. Fifty-four percent of Democrats said they think the country is on the right track compared to 31 percent who said it is on the wrong track.
Six-in-10 Democrats, meanwhile, believe they’ll be better off in four years.
But even Democrats are worried about the country’s long-term future. Only 30 percent said their children face a brighter future and 30 percent said they will be worse off.
African Americans — who have endured high unemployment rates throughout the economic recession and recovery — are more upbeat about the country’s future than white Americans, the poll found.
While just 30 percent of whites said the country is on the right track, 44 percent of black voters believe the nation is headed in the right direction.
Similarly, 64 percent of blacks believe their families will be better off in four years compared to just 30 percent of whites. Over the long term, 56 percent of African Americans say their children face a brighter future, compared to 10 percent of whites.
The poll was taken Dec. 13 among 1,000 likely voters and is considered accurate within 3 percentage points.
The poll’s sample was 32 percent Republican, 38 percent Democrat and 30 percent who identified as neither.
Voters are evenly divided in their views on the country’s overall ideological leaning, the poll found.
Twenty-six percent of people said they believe the United States is a predominantly left-of-center nation, while 30 percent feel it is a right-of-center country. Another 25 percent felt the U.S. is neither right nor left.
Among Democrats, only 17 percent said they believe the U.S. is a left-of-center country, compared to 29 percent of Republicans who felt that way.
A near-equal number of Democrats and Republicans (31 percent and 30 percent, respectively) said the U.S. is predominantly a right-of-center country.
The Hill’s poll found a strikingly large number of voters, 59 percent, believe the U.S. is less admired around the globe than it was four years ago when Obama took office. Just 37 percent said the country is much more, or somewhat more, admired than it was four years ago.
When Obama took office, he pledged to try and restore the nation’s international standing, which he felt had been damaged during George W. Bush’s presidency.
Republicans strongly feel the opposite has occurred, with 87 percent saying the country is somewhat or much less admired than it was four years ago. Only 10 percent of Republicans say the country's image has improved.
Sixty-five percent of Democrats say the country is more admired now than when Bush left office, while 32 percent say it is less admired.
It also puts the lie to the entire notion of any "mandate" that Obama received as a result of an election, in which more people rejected "the devil they didn't know and never knew" Romney than they rejected "the devil they already knew" Obama.
Where were they on election day?
FORWARD! TO DESTITUTION!
People voted for “More Cowbell” and they’re getting it. They hate the way it feels out here, and they voted for more of the same.
F’in idiots.
I couldn’t believe people would vote for 0bambi. They’re voting for the guy who promises them the doldrums and delivers.
They voted to keep on the wrong track! As long as they're promised they'll get their "free stuff", why would they care?
We allowed an immoral, scarcely educated pompous (Obama)hole to be president.
We shall reap the “benefits” of being led by a dork.
Another indicator.
Some were at the polls suffering rat-vote-fraud on a massive scale.
Obama did so well that in some counties he got 160% of the vote. That is tough to compete with.
Massive.
The American Dream is dead.
Thanks 0bama!
“The poll, conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, found nearly 6-in-10 people (59 percent) feel the country is on the wrong track.”
That confirms similar poll numbers broadcast before the election. So how did obuma win a second term?
How is it possible that the number of states controlled by conservatives/patriots/republicans rise to 30 from 25 in 2010?
Voting fraud is my answer. President Buckwheat is a fraudulent president and not my president.
And yet an overwhelming number voted for this on election day.
The world sucks and it’s all someone else’s fault.
Typical Obamaland attitude. :(
screw the US voter.... take your medicine.
I’d like to see the “160%” source, please.
All employers need to come up with a few questions that are not actually political but will reveal a persons political leaning. I strongly suggest you not hire anyone who even lean democrat. Give those jobs to people who actually have functioning brains.
Well, they probably got paid well and voted a lot of times.
I know a guy who told me he’s voting for Obama...I asked why and he started ranting about abortion. I said pal your 50 years old, no job, no savings, no car, and no girl. And your main concern is abortion?...He voted for Obama anyway.
I talk to a lot of people every day because of my job. Believe me. Finding people around northern Arizona that are happy that we’re stuck with the Kenyan for four more years are very few and far between. Everyone I talk to seems to be in a real funk that the Kenyan was “reelected”. I usually just respond with, “He wasn’t” and let it go at that.
The modern American Useful Idiots got what they voted for, may they reap the full benefits of Useful Idiocy, including the very best of ‘em when they are no longer Useful
“we work hard here. When your on my clock I expect you to work. We don’t allow cell phones or ipods, we have the best IT guy in the world and he blocks anything not work related on company computers. All company e-mails are logged by law and reviewed as needed. We do not, nor will we ever have a “no guns allowed” sign. Do you feel comfortable working with co-workers or customers who may have a legal concealed weapon?”
Normally runs off an Obama voter post haste.
I am tired of defending the business owners. It is way past time that the buiness owners started a national campaign against increased taxes, Obamacare and other government regulations that are stifiling their growth. The left will never allow a common sense argument to stand on its own. The left uses communist economists like Krugman and claim that they are moderate mainstream economists who claim that businesses can afford higher taxes even to the tune of say 90 percent or so. People must be taught and the best way to teach them is from the horses mouth the business owners need to impress upon the middle class that guess what those tax increases are passed on to you in the form of higher costs for goods and services and that regulations and taxes result in less employees and less hours worked.
My kids and I don’t plan to participate in Br0nc0’s vision quest.
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