The new Washington Post poll

March 31, 12:12 PMProgressive Politics ExaminerJay McDonough

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The Obama Administration must be happy today after seeing the new Washington Post/ABC News poll.  The headlines accompanying the poll note the public doesn't view the Obama Administration as responsible for the downturn in the economy.  Is anyone really surprised by that.  Reasonable folks of all political persuasion believe the new president, after just two months in office, is attempting to deal with an inherited problem and only a few hardcore axe grinders have suggested the president has any responsiblity for the economic crisis. 

When it comes to assessing responsibility for the nation's economic plight, 80 percent said they put a "great deal" or a "good amount" of blame on banks and other financial institutions for taking unnecessary risks. The same percentage said they blame large corporations for poor management decisions. About seven in 10 blame consumers for overextending themselves with debt and the Bush administration for not vigorously regulating the financial industry.

What's particularly noteworthy about the poll is the sharp uptick in optimism.   The number of folks responding to the question about whether the country is headed in the right direction has nearly tripled from the December poll. 

The percentage of Americans in the new poll who said the country is on the right track still stands at just 42 percent, but that is the highest percentage saying so in five years and marks a sharp turnabout from last fall, when as many as nine in 10 said the country was heading in the wrong direction. Fifty-seven percent now consider the nation as moving on the wrong track.

Two-thirds of Americans approve of the way Obama is handling the country's top job, and six in 10 give him good marks on issue No. 1, the flagging economy. Those figures are little changed from last month. But he receives lower marks for dealing with the federal budget deficit after submitting a plan that would see continued huge deficits over the next decade. Fifty-two percent back Obama on his approach to the deficit, with the public split about evenly over whether belt-tightening or big increases in spending should be used to try to improve the economy.

So much of the economy is based on consumer confidence, any movement towards increased optimism can only be a good sign in terms of alleviating the economic crisis.