It is not just the job the president is currently doing that is seeing dropping numbers, there is also a change in the confidence level for producing policies to fix the situation. Just two in five Americans (41%) are confident that the White House and Administration will produce policies to fix the economic crisis while 59% are not confident. This is a drop from November when 44% were confident and 56% not confident in the White House.
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,576 adults surveyed online between January 18 and 25, 2010 by Harris Interactive.
It’s all about jobs
One of the main economic cornerstones for the State of the Union was the issue of job creation, and for good reason. Just one in ten Americans (10%) believe the current job market of their region of the nation is good while 70% believe it is bad, and one in five (20%) say it is neither good nor bad.
Looking at the different regions of the country, the South seems to be the “best” place for jobs right now as 14% of Southerners say the job market in their region is good while 64% believe it is bad. The Midwest is the worst as only 6% of Midwesterners say their job market is good and over three-quarters (76%) say it is bad.
Most people do not see a light on the near horizon for the job market. Just 7% of Americans believe the job market has already started growing while 14% say it will start to improve in the next six months. One-quarter (24%) say the job recovery will begin between six and 12 months from now while two in five (39%) say it will not happen for another year or longer.
So what?
The president and his administration hope that the State of the Union can help turn around attitudes on the economy and jobs and show that the White House gets it and is working on it. After spending so much time, energy and political capital on health care, it will be interesting to see what unfolds. But, in the absence of job growth, eloquence and rhetoric are unlikely to change the negative opinion found in this survey.
