(Bloomberg News) The Obama administration cut taxes for middle-class Americans, expects to make a profit on the hundreds of billions of dollars spent to rescue Wall Street banks and has overseen an economy that has grown for the past five quarters.
Most voters don't believe it.
A Bloomberg National Poll conducted Oct. 24-26 finds that by a two-to-one margin, likely voters in the Nov. 2 midterm elections think taxes have gone up, the economy has shrunk, and the billions lent to banks as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program won't be recovered.
"The public view of the economy is at odds with the facts, and the blame has to go to the Democrats," said J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., a Des Moines, Iowa-based firm that conducted the nationwide survey. "It does not matter much if you make change, if you do not communicate change."
The Obama administration has cut taxes -- largely for the middle class -- by $240 billion since taking office on Jan. 20, 2009. A program aimed at families earning less than $150,000 that was contained in the stimulus package lowered the burden for 95% of working Americans by $116 billion, or about $400 per year for individuals and $800 for married couples. Other measures include breaks for college education, moderate- income families and the unemployed and incentives to promote renewable energy.
Not Getting Through
Still, the poll shows the message hasn't gotten through to Americans, especially middle-income voters. By 52% to 19%, likely voters say federal income taxes have gone up for the middle class in the past two years.
"He's all about raising taxes," says poll respondent Jeanette Bagley, 74, a retired home health aide in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota. "He's all about big government and big spending."
The view that taxes have gone up is shared by a majority of almost all demographic groups, including 50% of independent voters, among the linchpins of Obama's victory in the 2008 election.
Even a plurality of Democrats, 43%, holds this misperception. Overall, 63% of those who earn $25,000 to $49,999 say taxes have gone up, compared with 45% of those who earn $100,000 or more.