Americas

Americas

U.S. voters show little trust for Obama, Romney on economy: poll

10 April 2012 03:49 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Most U.S. voters trust themselves on matters of the economy more than President Barack Obama and leading Republic presidential contender Mitt Romney, according to a poll released Monday by Rasmussen Reports, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Just 29 percent of likely U.S. voters trust the president more than themselves on economic issues facing the nation in this sluggish recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression, the national telephone survey found. Just 18 percent said the same of Romney.

Put another way, 65 percent of voters have more confidence in their own economic judgment than in Obama’s, and only slightly more -- 68 percent -- hold more confidence in themselves than in Romney when it comes to the major economic issues of the day.

The poll indicates that Romney, who brands himself as the business candidate whose strength lies on the economic front, will get no free ride on economic issues from voters, said Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland.

It also underscores that Republicans have still not succeeded in turning the recession against Obama, as a slight majority of voters still blame former president George W. Bush for the county’ s economic woes, even though Obama has been in office for nearly a full term.

"The Republican pitch that they are good for the economy, therefore vote for them, isn’t really gelling," Kull said.

Indeed, a Rasmussen poll last month found that U.S. voters are blaming Bush’s policies when it comes to today’s still-struggling economy. The national telephone survey of likely voters showed that 48 percent still place more blame on Bush for the economic recession that began under Bush. Nearly the same number -- 46 percent -- blamed it on Obama’s policies.

The numbers bode ill for Romney, as voters could see him as a continuation of Bush. And while he leads in the Republican primaries, many pundits and analysts say he lacks charisma and see him as the least bad of a group of not-so-inspiring candidates.

While Obama’s approval rating stands below the halfway mark at 48 percent, he still leads Romney by 47.9 percent to 43.1 percent, according to the latest Real Clear Politics poll.