Rasmussen- Confidence is Stimulus WAY DOWN

Maybe its the 9.5% unemployment that's still growing, or maybe its the people who have been trying to sell their houses for two years, either way confidence in the President's porkulus bill took a swan dive last month.

According to a new Rasmussen,  only 25% of voters say the almost $800 Billion stimulus has helped the economy,  last month 31% said it helped. This is the first poll showing that more voters believe the plan hurt rather than helped (31% say the plan hurt). Back in Februrary, 34% said it would help the economy, 32% that it would hurt and 26% predicted no impact.

Fifty percent (50%) of Republicans believe the stimulus plan has been bad for the economy. A plurality of Democrats (41%) disagree and say it has helped.


Voters not affiliated with either major party are more divided, but show less confidence in the plan than they did a month ago.


Criticism of the stimulus plan, intended in part to stem increasing unemployment, has grown with the recent release of a government report showing the unemployment rate at 9.5%, the highest rate since 1983. Government officials are predicting it will go higher, prompting talk of a second stimulus plan.


But 60% of voters oppose the passage of a second economic stimulus plan this year, while 27% think it’s a good idea.


Forty-five percent (45%) of Americans say the rest of the new government spending authorized in the first stimulus plan should now be canceled. Thirty-six percent (36%) disagree, and 20% are not sure.


However, while voters are opposed to another spending stimulus plan, 51% favor an across-the-board tax cut for all Americans.


The administration’s biggest current economic initiative, a retooling of the U.S. health care system, is now drawing increasing criticism as well. Fifty-three percent (53%) of voters oppose the health care reform plan proposed by the president and congressional Democrats.


Just 20% now say health care reform is the most important of the four budget priorities Obama laid out early in his presidency. Nearly twice as many (37%) say deficit reduction is the number one priority.


Fifty-one percent (51%) of voters worry that the government will try to do too much to fix the country’s economic problems, while 36% fear it won’t do enough. Seventy-six percent (76%) of Americans say it is at least somewhat likely that a large amount of money in the stimulus plan will be wasted due to inadequate government oversight.

1* Earlier this year, Congress and the president enacted a $787 billion economic stimulus plan. So far, has the economic stimulus plan helped the economy, hurt the economy or had no impact on the economy?
25% Helped
31% Hurt
36% No impact
8% Not sure

2* In reacting to the nation’s current economic problems, what worries you more….that the federal government will do too much or that the federal government will not do enough? 51% Federal government will do too much
36% Federal government will not do enough
14% Not sure