American public doesn't buy media's characterization of "Obama recession"
SUMMARY: Despite attempts by media figures to pin the blame for the current economic situation on President Obama, a recent ABC poll found that "[e]ight in 10 Americans blame the situation on banks and other financial institutions. ... Just 26 percent, though, blame the Obama administration."
Since the 2008 presidential election, media figures have tried to pin the blame for the current economic situation on President Obama by disappearing the Bush administration's role in their reporting of economic issues and repeatedly referencing the "Obama recession" and the "Obama bear market." Nonetheless, a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll indicates that, as ABCNews.com reported: "Part of Obama's advantage in dealing with the economy is that, while blame and anger are in great supply, he escapes both. Eight in 10 Americans blame the situation on banks and other financial institutions for taking on too much risk; as many blame large business corporations for poor management decisions. Seventy-two percent blame consumers for taking on too much debt; 70 percent blame the Bush administration for lack of needed regulation. Just 26 percent, though, blame the Obama administration."
From ABC News' poll memo:
From the poll:
As Media Matters for America has documented, beginning in early November 2008, conservative media figures like Fox News contributor and syndicated columnist Dick Morris, Fox News host Sean Hannity, and nationally syndicated radio hosts Rush Limbaugh and Hugh Hewitt have asserted that Obama is to blame for the decline of the stock market since the November 4, 2008, presidential election by promoting the myth of an "Obama recession." In fact, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession began in December 2007.
Additionally, numerous media outlets declared the existence of an "Obama bear market," disregarding the Bush administration's role in the decline in the stock market. This follows a pattern Media Matters has identified in which the media have left out relevant information on a range of issues about the role of Bush-era policies or have suggested that Obama has greater responsibility for policies or events than he does. For instance, MSNBC used misleading charts in numerous reports to suggest that the Dow Jones industrial average began dropping only after Obama's election or inauguration, despite the fact that the Dow was on a downward trajectory months before the election, dropping 3,738 points from May 2, 2008, to November 3, 2008.
Wgere is Ross Perot when we need charts ? even MMFA seems to fall in the category of misleading on this one.
a recent ABC poll found that "[e]ight in 10 Americans blame the situation on banks and other financial institutions. ... Just 26 percent, though, blame the Obama administration."
Should use numbers of constant flavor like instead of spelling "eight " in conjunction with the numerical representation of 10 and changing to 26 percent all in one sentence.
here is what I think it should say
a recent ABC poll found that 80 out of 100 Americans blame the situation on banks and other financial institutions. ... Just 26 out of 100, though, blame the Obama administration."
my humble opinion and flaming arrows not accepted.
Spelling out numbers below 10 is AP style... Above 10, it's digits.
I always got into trouble solving equations in college when I didn't maintain the same units of measure in one system.( MKS or other )
ok so maybe the numbers were a bit disengenous....but the fact still remains that the vast majority of people do no buy the crap from Rush Fixed Noise and such
woofkotenberg: "even MMFA seems to fall in the category of misleading on this one."
Exactly.
1. Also: According to MM's own site, ABC and the Washington Psst are bastions of "conservative misinformation." Why is MM buying what the Post and ABC are saying this time?
2. MM says, "Despite attempts by media figures to pin the blame ...," but the only three media figures they cite are Hannity, Morris, Limbaugh, and Hewitt.
In other words, the vast majority of the media remains in the tank for Obama. And that's using MM's own logic.
-0
They also cite MSNBC and their misleading charts.
Besides, MMFA is not claiming that the vast majority of the media is claiming that Obama is ruining the economy (even before becoming the president). But the media figures they cited have a lot of audience and influence and they gain attention with their words, and that is why this poll is significant.
Also, their post isn't so much about the media as it is that the American public simply isn't buying the "Obama recession arguments", and they shouldn't.
"In other words, the vast majority of the media remains in the tank for Obama." - shoes89
Uh-huh. That must be why they spent an entire year reporting on Jeremiah Wright, William Ayres, a madrassa, and his birth certificate . . . and why Hannity still does . . .
Same 26 percent that supported and continue to support Bush and Cheny administration and the "wonderkids" in the GOP.
That's what I was thinking, Ufeirx. I guess MMFA is trying to be "glass-half-full" about this, but am I supposed to be encouraged to find that that a quarter of my fellow Americans are stoopid enough to think the administration in power for the past 2 months caused this global financial sh*tpile?
25% of Americans who think Obama is a terrorist or that half of Americans don't pay taxes may be a minority, but it's an embarrassing minority that can swing an election.
Sorry to be a downer, but I don't feel like cheering the fact that one in four Americans is a brain-dead zombie.
wow, that is true. 26% of the population that cares to answer polls is in a trance.
Exactly what I was thinking. This recession and financial crisis started WAY before this administration had even been put together on paper, and 26% are blaming THEM?
Yeah, I'm not encouraged by this either. But I guess this number includes the 22% of people that approved of Bush's presidency as he left office. They are hopeless cases without any clue about reality.
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Col. and Wolf, and Fawlty, from here in Tennessee there is a lot of voluntary lack of access to information. I know that may sound like restating the obvious, but there is a large portion of the population that lives behind an Iron Curtain of their own making. For too long I kept hearing and reading the MSM refer to Rush and his many understudies (and there are many, all trying to “out-Rush Rush) as “radio personalities” and “entertainers”, which had the added benefit of keeping the other 74% in the dark about the venom and hate these propagandists spew. That seems to be changing somewhat, but it’s hard to appreciate when that 26% are so hysterical (and so very loud) about being out of power (not about being unable to effect a workable plan, of course, just not being in power).
Take heart. Think of that 26% as living behind a self-imposed Iron Curtain of information and programs like Countdown as comparable to the old Radio Free Europe transmitted into the Soviet Union in the ‘60s. Also, the proper definitions of the terms socialism, fascism, anarchy, and terrorism cannot be posted too often. Those are buzz words for that 26% and all they seem to know is that the words are “bad.” Always enjoy your posts and others here, often forward the articles with attention to the comments sections.
Any suggestions how to prevent the mish-mash at the top of my post?
Where you been hiding?
I am cheering. It wasn't too long ago the brain dead zombie population was higher than 25%. So their numbers are decreasing.
welcome back colonel. thought you had taken a permemnant vacation
I think the Colonel was busy developing a better bird batter. Some of us do have jobs, businesses, family, girlfriends, lives outside MMFA. Not me.
The one in four is a fact of life. Those 26% aren't going to change, and they're certainly not going to let facts get in the way of their (and their talk-show blowhards') opinions. Hoping to change the views of that one in four demographic is futile. The important point is that that view truly is in the minority, which is why the GOP is quickly becoming an irrevelant minority nationaly.
I don't think that one quarter of Americans actually believe this, although they probably believe they can promote their political position by saying so in a poll.
Agree that we should not call this the "Obama Recession" - but I will near the front of the line to call the "Obama Depression" by year end if he continues on the path he is on.
The good news, M.R.- you're not alone,you've got one in four people in this country who may be able to have a conversation with you without laughing.
Whatcha talkin' 'bout, mister? Don't you know that Obama's Superman? He can will a gargantuan financial crisis away faster than a speeding bullet. He's more powerful than a slew of sub prime mortgages, and he can leap tall recessions in a single bound.
I give dude to the end of the year too :-0) Cape and leotard optional.
I thought that was Barney Fwank who singlehandedly wiped out Fanny's Mae and Freddie's Mac.
no it was candidate obama who started it cause the market started taking when he was wrapping up the primary races. don't you know anything!?
All I know was that Obama was supposed to raise my taxes... so what's with the $67 dollar increase I got in my last check?! OBAMA must have been LYING!!!
(You know you're really, really stupid when you don;t even realize how stupid you are.)
you know i was kidding around right?
you may be kidding but that is when I exited the market and thus have not suffered 50% losses but made money on the short selling.
Go Obama. I'm still short selling.
Hey wolf,
I don't think this was an either/or survey. Not "Do you blame this one OR that one?"
Rather, it looks like "Out of these groups which ones do think deserve blame?" So, really, only 6% of the people that blame banks ALSO blame Obama. These people are, of course, certifiably insane. I wonder if they would have blamed McCain the same way?
This poll ignored the prime culprits: Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich. This recession was caused by mindless tax cutting and refusal to regulate.
Why Investment Bubbles?
How anyone can "blame" Obama for this mess is beyond comprehension. The evil groundwork had been set in motion years ago only to be exposed layer by layer in recent months and weeks. How many citizens are aware of what went on in the board rooms and dark alleys of Wall Street AND Washington for years before it all came crashing down? I, for one, never even heard of a "Ponzi Scheme". Well, my innocence is being handsomely rewarded. The repulsive greed demonstrated by some individuals boggles my mind.
That 26% that blames a two month old administration for the current recession must be Rushbots or just plain stupid. I'mglad that the majority of Americans are paying attention and noticing who's to blame in this mess, and isn't the Obama administration. CNN, FOX and other news networks had better get the hint...the pinning the tail on the donkey game is flying this go round. I just hope the attention span of the American public wont wane this time around.
I'm going with "stupid" but not of the "plain" variety.
I would find many a colorful adverb to place in front of that particular adjective...
But I won't. I was recently told that that wasn't "nice." :)
(One that starts with the letter "f" does leap to mind though....)
Eddie, the word is "extraordinarily" stupid. The magic figure, "26%" IS rather scary, especially after the interviews given by Georgie in which he looks like a kid in the principal's office. If the President of the United States was that clueless, what does that say about his zombie-like followers? Here in New Orleans, we have voodoo, with its requisite zombie demographic. As far as I know, there is no way to de-zombie a zombie. Madame Booga-Booga is working on it.
"That 26% that blames a two month old administration for the current recession must be Rushbots or just plain stupid."
Since when are those two things - Rushbot and plain stupid - mutually exclusive?
He may not have caused the current situation as President, but I am sure he contributed to the problem as Senator. And now with adding more and more wasteful debt and not stading by his campaign promises, he is contributing to the problem even more.
Gee, I would really like to here more about these items. Could you perhaps offer some documented proof?
Wow. Are you an actual human, or just a spam-bot cut-n-pasting repug talking poitns on random liberal websites? Could you even attempt to explain what your syaing? Or do just repeat what you hear on Fox?
Our American media "journalists" were born without the DNA strand that accounts for the ability to experience embarrassment.
By some evolutionary quirk, our talking heads are completely incapable of experiencing embarrassment.
That's why they can be wildly wrong & wildly out of touch yet keep grinning & clowning through the whole thing.
If any of you youngsters out there have ever experienced the emotion of embarrassment, please look into becoming an American journalist.
We beg of you. That specific DNA strand needs to be re-introduced into our 4th estate.
Wow, the Republicans, FoxNews, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and others "really" pushed this 'false' Obama Recession, and yet the majority of Americans just did not buy it. Ouch.
As someone in the accompanying YouTube video to this article said, its good that the polls are finally reflecting reality and common sense . . .
Why am I not surprised. The beginning of this article was very clear. The negative percentage seem to be guided by media turbulence.