Poll: Creating New Jobs Trumps Fixing Deficit

by James Parks, Sep 30, 2009

With unemployment at the highest rate in 26 years, most Americans want the government to create more jobs before it worries about the deficit.

A new survey of public views of the economy, released today by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), shows more than eight of 10 Americans (83 percent) see unemployment as a big problem today. 

While voters have some concern about the growth of the federal deficit, job creation is far and away their top priority. In fact, by a margin of 53 percent to 42 percent, voters are more concerned about rising unemployment rates than the rising federal deficit.

The Tracking the Recovery survey was conducted among 802 registered voters nationwide from Sept. 21-23 by Hart Research Associates for EPI. The poll takes an indepth look at Americans’ experiences in this recession, their expectations for the year ahead, their views of the government’s role and degree of success so far and their priorities for further government action. Click here to download the poll results.

Says Geoffrey Garin, Hart Research’s president who presented the results today at an EPI forum in Washington, D.C.:

Unemployment and the lack of jobs remains the dominant problem on the economic agenda for voters across party lines. The portrait that emerges from this survey is of a majority with deep concern about the jobs situation who are looking to the Obama administration for continued action to save and create jobs.

Another issue rated as a big problem by participants is the failure of wages and salaries to keep up with the cost of living. Today, 63 percent of Americans rate this as a very big or fairly big problem; 57 percent expect it to be a very big or fairly big problem a year from now.

EPI President Lawrence Mishel says voters understand “that investing in job creation must necessarily come before the challenge of addressing the federal deficit.”

These findings will help policy makers understand that they can do what they need to do to create a sound, jobs-based recovery without losing public support over the federal deficit. And for those who have assumed that the deficit will trump all other concerns, it’s a wake-up call.

The survey clearly shows voters are not falling for conservatives’ efforts to blame the Obama administration for the federal deficit or to push for spending cuts instead of a strong economic stimulus plan. By a margin of more than three to one—73 percent to 24 percent—respondents agreed with this statement:

The federal budget deficit is an important problem, but we need to deal with it in a way that allows us to invest in job creation, education, and energy independence, because we cannot solve the deficit problem without getting people back to work and getting our economy growing again.

At the AFL-CIO’s constitutional convention earlier this month, the delegates approved a comprehensive economic recovery policy, including a JOBS Now! Initiative. They called for the federation to work with government at all levels to adopt policies and programs to put people back to work.

Machinists (IAM) President Tom Buffenbarger pointed out that nearly 31 million Americans are either unemployed, underemployed or have given up looking for work. Saying JOBS Now should be our clarion call, he added:

 If we’re all talk and no action, those 31 million workers will be worse off next year.

Americans also are not happy with the way economic recovery money has been spent so far. When asked who has been helped most so far by the government’s stimulus efforts, the majority say “large banks” (62 percent) or “Wall Street investment companies” (54 percent) have benefited either a lot or a fair amount. Asked how much “the average working person” or “you and your family” have benefited, about one out of 10 (13 percent and 10 percent, respectively) say a lot or a fair amount.

The vast majority of voters (81 percent) agree that the Obama administration still needs to do more to deal with unemployment and the loss of jobs. The survey also shows that voters trust the president more than congressional Republicans, by a margin of 43 percent to 32 percent, to have the right economic policies.

When asked what additional actions they think the government should take, more than 80 percent support passing a major new job creation tax credit for businesses that create jobs in the United States in the next two years. Other policies that drew strong backing include: 

• Extending unemployment insurance benefits for those who have lost their jobs during the recession and are unable to find new jobs (81 percent).
• Putting unemployed people back to work at government-funded public service jobs that help meet important community needs (71 percent).
• Giving a new round of tax rebates to lower- and middle-income Americans (63 percent).
• Providing increased federal assistance to state and local governments to prevent additional layoffs of government employees because government layoffs add to unemployment and harm vital services (52 percent). 

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