Unfair Expectations of Obama and the Government

12/23/2009, by Proloy Bhatta

HIGHLIGHTS

• Obama's approval rating on jobs: 44%
• Obama's approval rating on the deficit: 37%
• But by a 3:1 margin, Americans want the government to create jobs than to reduce the deficit.

We've started to track the polls on Obama's handling of the issues -- here's the poll averages.

Obama gets low marks on every single issue despite the fact that his approval rating is barely under 50%.

The federal budget deficit is causing Obama a great deal of problems.

1. The Republicans are now running on the platform of limited government and decreasing the federal budget deficit - a popular position.
2. The Tea Party movement is gaining steam.
3. The Democrats risk losing a great deal of seats in 2010.

But despite all of this, Americans want to see the government create jobs over reducing the deficit by an overwhelming 3:1 ratio.

Here is the CNN poll conducted from 12/16-20.

Reduce Deficit 40%, Stimulate Recovery 57%.
Reduce Deficit 25%, Create jobs 74%.

Obama and the Democrats can't win. Either they will be wary of the deficit and lose favor with the American people for not creating jobs -- or they will suffer the same fate by stimulating recovery and creating jobs but increasing the deficit. This is a lose-lose situation.

When the government creates jobs, they have to tax productive sectors of the economy to prop up unproductive sectors.