The latest Rasmussen
poll has support for the stimulus dropping to 37 percent of
Americans, with a plurality of 43 percent now opposed. Meanwhile,
the polling firm
also found that 50 percent believe that the stimulus bill
will make things worse.
The Gallup
result is a bit more nuanced. It found that three out of four
Americans want some form of a stimulus package passed. However,
only 38 percent want the package to be passed as is, with another
37 percent saying it should be passed only after "major changes"
and 17 percent saying it should be rejected all together.
Remember, this was supposed to be a slam dunk. Early in the
transition process, the Obama team had
hoped to have a finished bill signed on his first day in
office. Yet two weeks into his presidency, the front page of the
Washington Post has a story about how Democrats have now
conceded that they don't have enough votes to pass the
package -- even though they have 58 Senators. Meanwhile,
President Obama had to do five television interviews yesterday to
boost support for the legislation. Obama will inevitably sign
something, which will probably be touted as a "victory" in the
media. But I think it's fair to say that this stimulus push has
not gone as smoothly as expected
