Rasmussen: Support for Stimulus Package Falls to 37%

Support for Stimulus Package Falls to 37%
Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Support for the economic recovery plan working its way through Congress has fallen again this week. For the first time, a plurality of voters nationwide oppose the $800-billion-plus plan.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 37% favor the legislation, 43% are opposed, and 20% are not sure.

Two weeks ago, 45% supported the plan. Last week, 42% supported it.

Opposition has grown from 34% two weeks ago to 39% last week and 43% today.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of Democrats still support the plan. That figure is down from 74% a week ago. Just 13% of Republicans and 27% of those not affiliated with either major party agree.

Seventy-two percent (72%) of Republicans oppose the plan along with 50% of unaffiliated voters and 16% of Democrats.

Link

Looks like the democrats in Washington care more about their socialist, political agenda, than they do about serving the American people.

At least the republicans in congress united in opposition and did the right thing for America.

Very little stock should be put on these numbers.

Percentages like these can be very easily manipulated. I work in marketing research and work with surveys and statistics all day. This was not a very good questionnaire. It is written with leading language and there is no significant difference between do you support plan A or do you support plan B? Now do you support no tax cuts? It's a very leading survey and I wouldn't say these numbers are an accurate representation.

Here are a few of the exact questions asked in the survey:

Do you favor or oppose the economic recovery package proposed by Barack Obama and the Congressional Democrats?

37% Favor
43% oppose
20% Not sure



Suppose the economic recovery plan changed so that it included tax cuts only and there was no new government spending. Would you favor or oppose an economic recovery plan that included tax cuts only?

45% Favor
34% Oppose
21% Not sure



Okay… Suppose the economic recovery plan changed so that it included only new government spending and there were no tax cuts? Would you favor or oppose an economic recovery plan that included only new government spending?

15% Favor
72% Oppose
13% Not sure



In reacting to the nation’s current economic problems, what worries you more—that the federal government will do too much or that the federal government will not do enough?

46% The government will do too much
41% The government will not do enough
13% Not sure


Sorry, but these questions look pretty straigh forward to me.

I know what the questions are. I read them. How else could I have said they were leading?

I stand by that. I could have told you roughly how the responses would come out just by reading the questions.

Q2 asks if they support a bill with just tax cuts. Of course, most people do. People in general see tax cuts as good and government spending as bad, regardless what it's spent on.

Q3 asks if they favors no tax cuts and more government spending. Duh, how did you expect that questions to come out?

I'm telling you, this is what I do and this is not a well written questionnaire.

Explain to me what is leading about this question:

Do you favor or oppose the economic recovery package proposed by Barack Obama and the Congressional Democrats?

Grim17 wrote:Explain to me what is leading about this question:

Do you favor or oppose the economic recovery package proposed by Barack Obama and the Congressional Democrats?

That particular question is probably the least leading but the real story there is the undecided. 1-5 don't know most likey because they don't know what it is. That's what should be getting reported there.