More voters (35 percent) blamed Wall Street for today's economic problems rather than President Bush (29 percent) or President Obama (23 percent). But these Wall Street-blaming voters supported Republicans by 56-42 percent. The Obama administration's association with bailing out Wall Street bankers, who are heavily blamed for the bad economy, apparently had a negative effect on Democratic performance in this election.
Actually, there were signs before the election that this was going to happen. On August 12, CBS News produced an article titled "More Americans think Obama, Not Bush, Enacted Bank Bailouts, Poll Shows."
Reported CBS News:
Nearly half of Americans incorrectly think President Obama started the bank bailout program, otherwise known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), a new poll shows.
Just 34 percent of Americans surveyed by the Pew Research Center correctly said that TARP was enacted by the Bush administration. Almost half--47 percent--think Mr. Obama started the bank bailout, according to the survey, conducted July 1-5. There was no partisan divide on the issue.
What's the reality? CBS makes it clear:
The TARP program was created in 2008 to stabilize the financial system. The Treasury Department has committed more than $500 billion to more than 800 firms through the program. While Mr. Obama did not enact TARP, his administration has largely been responsible for administering it.
The facts are clear: TARP was created in 2008, and Obama did not take office until January 2009. Yet voters, many of them surely Tea Partiers, blamed Obama for a program that he did not create. That's like blaming Jimmy Carter for Watergate or Bill Clinton for Iran-Contra.
As CBS points out, the Obama administration has been saddled with trying to make TARP work--hence, it has been "associated" with the program. And reasonable folks certainly could debate how well Obama and Democrats have handled that task. But did Democrats create the program? Not even close. Did they cause the problems that led to TARP's creation in the first place? Nope.
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