Republicans Blamed More than Democrats for Financial Crisis
By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in 2008 Election, Bush, Democrats, Economy, RepublicansA new CNN/Opinion Research Corp poll shows many more Americans blame Republicans for the financial crisis than blame Democrats. 47% said Republicans are to blame. 24% said Democrats. 20% blame both and 8% blame neither.
This is bad news for Republicans. The economy is a potent election-year issue and voters often punish the party they blame for economic downturns. You might expect the Democrats, who control Congress, to catch more of the blame. But I guess the party’s surprisingly low-profile leadership is working out for them on this issue. How do you blame a party that hasn’t really done anything during its time in power? (Even if one might argue that doing nothing is exactly what got us into this mess).
If the economic turmoil continues through October, I foresee a solid Democratic victory. It doesn’t even matter if Barack Obama and his party put forth a reasonable plan. The Democrats will benefit just by virtue of not being the party in charge of the Executive Branch when the economy went off the rails. No matter how much John McCain tries to distance himself from Bush, he can’t scrub the R from behind his name. And that R is looking more and more like a liability.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Bush, Democrats, Economy, Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 23rd, 2008 at 7:51 am
Speaking of economic meltdowns, we’re not the first country to mess up mortgages. One country, Sweden, worked through it and its citizens actually benefitted in the long run. they held banks’ executives accountable, insisted on a stake in any future profits (which discouraged banks from taking the money unless they had to), established fair values for troubled mortgages, and brought confidence back to the system quickly. Here’s more about it
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/business/worldbusiness/23krona.html?em
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:31 am
After reading this poll, Barney Frank phoned up his friends at every mainstream media organization to say, “Thanks guys!,” then wiped the sweat off of his brow and let out a huge sigh.
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:57 am
It makes sense if you think about it: people perceive the Republican party as being business-friendly and pro-deregulation. Republicans are the friends of big business. Democrats are often perceived as being pro-regulation, and anti-business (usually because they want to raise taxes).
So when a problem is caused by big businesses running amok, the public blames the party they think gave those businesses too much freedom.
Of course, from everything I’ve read, it seems both parties are equally to blame, especially the members of those parties who make up Congress. But I probably read more political and financial blogs than most people.
Anyway, sucks for the Republicans, who have spent the last 2 decades trying to build their business-friendly reputation.
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:25 pm
I really feel sorry for democrat. This mess won’t be solved by the next president to big. Remember people blame to person in charge History show this. Look at Hoover he was just in the wrong place a wrong time. President doesn’t make law so he not going to be able to do much. Look like their setting him up for a big falls I am a democrat and sure don’t want this to happen to our party but we are dumb enough to let it happen to us