I'm happy with these numbers, no gripes.
PRINCETON, NJ -- More than a year into Barack Obama's presidency, Americans are more likely to say George W. Bush is responsible for today's economic problems than they are to say Obama is responsible. Gallup shows a significant uptick since last July in the percentage of Americans blaming Obama at least a moderate amount (from 32% to 50%), but little decrease (from 80% to 75%) in the percentage blaming Bush.
Proportionally, the gap in perceived culpability for current economic problems is even wider when one looks at the percentage blaming each president "a great deal" -- 26% for Obama and 42% for Bush.
(snip)Obama's current job approval rating -- recently bobbing just below 50%, and low by historical standards -- may partly reflect Americans' general economic discontent. Indeed, against the backdrop of broadly low economic confidence, Obama's approval rating on the economy is now 37%, with 61% disapproving. The "blame" data suggest that these job ratings could be even lower were Obama more widely perceived as directly responsible for the economy's problems.
Gallup's Presidential Job Approval Center shows that, of the presidents in office during economic recessions, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan all received lower overall job approval ratings at the official "troughs" of their recessions than Obama has yet received as president. Ford's approval rating was 37% in March 1975; Carter's was 33% in July 1980; and Reagan's was 43% in November 1992.
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