As Republicans assail President Barack Obama for blaming the country’s woes on his predecessor, Americans continue to attribute the ongoing economic problems to George W. Bush, a poll released Thursday shows.
A new survey from Gallup shows that 68 percent of Americans blame Bush either a “great deal” or a “moderate amount” for the economic problems that threaten to make Obama a one-term president. Conversely, 52 percent blame Obama.
Gallup began asking the “blame assessment” question in July 2009, a mere seven months into Obama’s opening term. At that time, 80 percent pinned a “great deal” or a “moderate amount” of blame on Bush. That percentage has remained virtually static since August of 2010, when 70 percent assigned the lion’s share of blame on Bush.
The Gallup poll was conducted June 7-10, with a sample of 1,004 adults and a margin of error of four percentage points.