Public Has More Confidence in Obama Than GOP Congressional Leaders on Deficit
President Obama is expected to send his proposed federal budget this week to Congress, where much of the focus will be on strategies for dealing with the deficit.
While this next phase of the budget battles comes at a time when Obama’s overall job approval rating has fallen, our March survey found that Obama continues to engender more confidence on the federal budget deficit than either GOP leaders in Congress or Democratic congressional leaders.
A majority (53%) says they have a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of confidence in Obama when it comes to dealing with the federal budget deficit. By contrast, 39% have at least a “fair amount” of confidence in congressional Republican leaders on the deficit and just 8% have a great deal of confidence — a 14 percentage point difference. Democratic congressional leaders fare only slightly better: 45% have at least a fair amount of confidence in Democratic leaders; 11% have a great deal of confidence.
More: Public Has More Confidence in Obama Than GOP Congressional Leaders on Deficit