The press continues to have trouble reading Obama polls

This morning it was ABC's The Note. Now it's CQ.

Look at CQ's dispatch about the release of two major new public opinion surveys. Under the headline, “Honeymoon Over: It's on Obama's Watch Now,” CQ reports:

Early in his presidency, Barack Obama had a grace period when the public saw the nation's problems as ones he inherited, but two new polls -- by New York Times/CBS News and Wall Street Journal/NBC News - make clear that there are rising concerns about his policies.

The biggest public concern is over the size of the deficit being run up by Obama's economic recovery proposals and how much more it will rise if his plan to overhaul health care and increase coverage for uninsured Americans is enacted. But there is also discomfort about his intervention in the auto industry and taking a big government stake in ownership of General Motors.

CQ's pretty definitive: Early on in his administration, the public gave Obama a pass; voters didn't hold him responsible for troubles he may have inherited. But that's changed now, especially on big issues like the economy and the deficit. i.e. “It's on Obama's Watch Now.”

Except, at least in the case of the NBC News/WSJ poll highlighted by CQ, the findings are pretty much the opposite.

As Ed Kilgore notes at FiveThirtyEight:

Five months into the Obama administration, and after weeks of steady Republican hammering of the president as a big spender, only 6% of Americans primarily blame Obama for the budget situation, while 46% primarily blame George W. Bush.

CQ spin: Polls show voters are now blaming Obama for the economy.

Fact: Polls show that virtually nobody is blaming Obama for the economy.