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Factbox: Highlights of Reuters/Ipsos poll
(Reuters) - Reuters/Ipsos conducted a national poll in late July on American political issues, President Barack Obama's public approval and November's congressional elections.
Here are the main findings.
OBAMA'S RATING DOWN
* Overall, 48 percent of respondents said they strongly approve, somewhat approve or lean toward approving of Obama. That is equal to the number who disapprove.
* Obama's public approval rating has fallen from 50 percent in January and 69 percent in February 2009.
THE ECONOMY IS OBAMA'S BIGGEST PROBLEM
* 48 percent of respondents said the economy is the biggest problem currently facing the United States.
* 67 percent of those polled said Obama is not focusing enough on job creation; 28 percent said he is giving the issue the right amount of focus.
* Satisfaction with Obama's handling of the economy and jobs is deteriorating more quickly than on any other issue. The gap between those satisfied and those unsatisfied is also more negative than on any other issue.
* 34 percent expressed satisfaction with Obama's performance on the economy and jobs, down from 40 percent in January and 53 percent in February 2009.
* 46 percent said his performance on the economy is unsatisfactory, up from 39 percent in January and 26 percent in February 2009.
AFGHANISTAN WAR LOSING SUPPORT
* Satisfaction with Obama's handling of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is also falling. Of respondents, 33 percent said his handling of the Afghan war is satisfactory, down from 38 percent in January and 47 percent in February 2009; 35 percent expressed dissatisfaction.
* Only 5 percent said war is the biggest problem facing the United States; 4 percent said immigration is the main problem.
HEALTHCARE NOT A BIG ISSUE
* Satisfaction with Obama's handling of healthcare has fallen, but not as sharply as on other issues. Overall the issue polarizes voters but Obama still comes out ahead.
* Some 44 percent expressed satisfaction with Obama's healthcare policy, and 40 percent expressed dissatisfaction.
* Just 3 percent of respondents cited healthcare as the biggest problem currently for the country.
OBAMA SCORES WELL ON TERRORISM, DIPLOMACY, EDUCATION
* Obama gets a positive rating on his handling of terrorism, with 43 percent expressing satisfaction and 31 percent expressing dissatisfaction.
* His handling of diplomacy was viewed positively, with 47 percent expressing satisfaction and 29 percent expressing dissatisfaction.
* His handling of education policy drew a 49 percent to 23 percent satisfied-to-dissatisfied ratio.
* Thirty-nine percent expressed satisfaction with his handling of energy independence, sharply down from when he took office but still ahead of the 32 percent who expressed dissatisfaction.
REPUBLICANS MUCH MORE LIKELY TO VOTE IN MID-TERMS
* Forty-six percent of registered voters said they were inclined to vote Republican in the November 2 congressional elections, while 44 percent said they were likely to vote Democratic.
* But 72 percent of Republicans said they were certain to vote in the elections, compared to just 49 percent of Democrats.
The poll was conducted between July 22 and 25, and surveyed 1,075 adults aged 18 and older across the United States.
For a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within three percentage points.
Full results can be found here
(Reporting by Simon Denyer in Washington, Editing by Will Dunham)
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Phil Gramm was right. We are a nation of whiners.
1 – address the problem with US corporations’ offshore tax policy. Current tax laws allow US corporations to defer taxes until after they repatriate them. However, US corporations are choosing to leave them offshore to avoid taxation. Some do repatriate, but do so surreptiously, thereby evading taxes. Solution – slowly lower taxes on domestic operations (from 35% to about 25%), while slowly raising taxes on offshore operations to about the same level. Offshore taxes should be reduced by the amount US corporations pay to host governments. This will level the playing field and remove a great deal of economic incentive to offshore. Long term trend will be towards quality in order to remain competitive instead of competing on the basis of prices. The situation currently gives US corporations an indirect subsidy on their earnings. A lot also can be done regarding ‘tax havens’… a potential hot potato.
2 – Currently there is a tremendous surplus of H1B visa holders displacing US citizens and residents by undercutting labor rates. This not only constitutes government sponsored ‘dumping’ of foreign labor on our shores, but it’s difficult to see the justification behind continuing this situation in view of high unemployment. Corporations are getting a free ride, discounting labor costs, and getting a subsidy in the process. The labor pool is saturated with an overabundance of highly talented – foreign – labor (especially in IT) willing to undercut domestic competition by 10% to 20%, and w/o demanding benefits. Solution – Start decreasing the number of H1B visa holders entering the US and allowing current H1B visa holders’ permits to expire w/o renewal.
3 – Undocumented workers are providing a source of discounted labor in agriculture, construction and low end manufacturing. Solution – Start prosecuting corporations that hire undocumented workers. Also, allow undocumented workers to stay but pay an annual fee ($500 to $1000) per head. This will eliminate subsidizing any companies’ earnings by hiring very inexpensive labor at below market rates.
The biggest problem is not that consumers feel that we need another tax rollback, but lack of consumer confidence due to increased economic uncertainty created by (a) govt sponsored offshore outsourcing taking mfg jobs overseas, (b) govt sponsored dumping of foreign labor driving down rates, and (c) lack of enforcement of existing immigration and naturalization laws. This forces consumers to think short term because they’re not sure if they are going to have a job next year. Consumers can’t buy homes, cars, etc if they are not sure of a consistent stream of salary revenues into the future.
These problems have combined to reinforce a corporate welfare state that undermines the middle class’ purchasing power. It especially affects the high end of the blue collar class dampening upward mobility sentiment. Furthermore, the current situation is responsible for the middle class’ decline over the last 30 years. These problems can be remedied much easier than most people would care to admit, but it’s hard to do so when trying to communicate through the background noise of right wingy dingy thingy idiots who do not know a thing about economics who can only talk about the next tax cut. Another continuation of the 2001/2003 tax cuts will only raise deficits and weaken the dollar further. The stimulus keeps the unemployment rate from going well into double digits (12% to 15%) making things worse. We need the stimulus to keep jobs from going south, we need to suspend the tax cuts for those who earn $250k or more per year as well as reversing any other ‘tax breaks’ such as estate taxes and re-implement them as sources of revenue for the govt. We also need to start thinking long term rather just one quarter or the next election cycle away.
The trainwreck left behing by Bush & co. is limiting the options available to the FRB and the administration. It will take a while to correct the problem, not just 2 years.
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