The Blame Game: Congress, Wall Street, Home Buyers and Big Business Top Americans List for Economic and Financial Crisis

Obama seen as better able to handle economic issue than McCain

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – October 24, 2008 –When it comes to the causes of the financial and economic crisis, Americans spread the blame around to both private and public sectors. Majorities blame all of the following "a lot": banks (76%), homebuyers who took on mortgages they couldn’t afford (58%), Wall Street (57%), big business (55%), and Congress (51%), Just under half blame the budget and trade deficit (47%) and President Bush (48%) "a lot".

These are some of the findings of The Harris Poll®, a nationwide survey of 2,119 U.S. adults surveyed online between October 16 and 20, 2008 by Harris Interactive^®.

Others are also blamed "a lot" albeit by fewer people including the very rich (39%), the Republicans (36%), and the Democrats (26%). A few people even blame the two candidates "a lot": Senator McCain 12% and Senator Obama 11%.

Looking to the future, more people have confidence in Senator Obama than in Senator McCain when it comes to different aspects of economic policy. He is preferred to McCain on each of the following:

Dealing with the economy, by 43% to 27% of all adults;
Choosing good economic advisors, by 41% to 28%;
Working with Congress on economic issues, by 40% to 25%;
Dealing with the credit crisis, by 38% to 26%; and,
Working with world leaders on economic issues, by 38% to 33%.

It is no surprise therefore that a 41% to 27% plurality believe that the economy would do better with a President Obama than under a President McCain.

Interestingly, only a slender 52% majority believes that the new president, can make a big impact on the economy, and fully 33% believe that economic forces are so strong that it doesn’t matter who is president.

Replies to one question confirm the high level of criticism of the "bail out" or "rescue" package that was passed by Congress. The public gives it an overwhelmingly negative rating. Only 13% think it is excellent or good.

So What?

This new Harris Poll confirms that the economic and financial crises are continuing to help Senator Obama to maintain or widen his lead over Senator McCain. However, large numbers of people do not believe that the president – any president – has much control over the economy and only 20% of adults believe that the economy will do "much better" under an Obama presidency than a McCain presidency.

TABLE 1

WHO IS TO BLAME FOR ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRISIS

"How much do you think each of the following are to blame for the country’s economic and financial crisis?"

Base: All adults

		A lot	Some	Not too much	Not at all	Not at all sure
Banks and lending institutions that sold mortgages to people who could not afford them	%	76	15	2	2	5
Home buyers who took on mortgages they could not afford	%	58	25	7	3	6
Wall Street	%	57	28	6	2	8
Big Business	%	55	26	8	3	8
Congress	%	51	35	7	1	7
President Bush	%	48	28	12	5	7
The budget and trade deficit	%	47	33	8	3	8
The very rich	%	39	30	14	8	8
The Republicans	%	36	34	14	5	11
The Democrats	%	26	34	19	9	12
Other countries	%	17	38	24	10	12
President Clinton	%	16	26	21	26	11
Senator McCain	%	12	29	27	19	14
Senator Obama	%	11	22	27	26	14

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 2

WOULD MCCAIN OR OBAMA DO BETTER JOB ON SIX ELEMENTS OF THE FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC CRISIS

"Which candidate do you think will do a better job on the following if he was elected president?"

Base: All adults

		Barack Obama	John McCain	Both would do equally as good a job	Neither	Not sure
Dealing with the economy	%	43	27	9	9	12
Choosing good economic advisors	%	41	28	12	7	12
Dealing with the housing crisis	%	40	25	12	9	14
Working with Congress on economic issues	%	40	28	13	7	12
Dealing with the credit crisis	%	38	26	12	10	14
Working with world leaders on economic issues	%	38	33	12	6	11

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 3

PERCEIVED DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE UNDER MCCAIN OR OBAMA

"Thinking of the economy and the election, which of the following comes closest to your views?"

Base: All adults

	Total	Registered Voters	Political Party
	Total	Registered Voters	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.
	%	%	%	%	%
BETTER UNDER OBAMA (NET)	41	42	9	73	34
Economy will be much better with Barack Obama	20	21	4	39	14
Economy will be somewhat better with Barack Obama	21	21	5	34	20
BETTER UNDER MCCAIN (NET)	27	28	60	7	23
Economy will be somewhat better with John McCain	15	16	33	4	14
Economy will be much better with John McCain	12	12	28	3	9
Will not matter who is elected president	22	21	22	14	31
Not at all sure	10	9	8	7	12

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

TABLE 4

CAN PRESIDENT HAVE LARGE IMPACT ON ECONOMY?

"Which of these statements is closest to your opinion?"

Base: All adults

	Total	Political Party
	Total	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.
	%	%	%	%
The president can make a large impact on the economy	52	49	67	39
Economic forces are so strong that it does not matter who is president	33	40	22	44
Not at all sure	15	11	11	17

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 5

RATINGS OF PLAN TO ADDRESS ECONOMIC CRISIS

"How would you rate the recent plan to help the economic crisis that was passed by Congress and signed by President Bush?"

Base: All adults

	Total	Political Party
	Total	Rep.	Dem.	Ind.
	%	%	%	%
Excellent	2	4	*	*
Good	11	17	9	10
Fair	33	34	35	32
Poor	38	32	40	40
Not at all sure	17	13	15	18

Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding

Note: * indicates less than 0.5%

Methodology

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between October 16 and 20, 2008, among 2,119 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

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