Bill Clinton Is Favored over Obama to Run the Economy

The latest Rasmussen Reports poll shows that Americans trust former President Bill Clinton more than they trust current President Obama. I suppose that bit of news didn’t require a national poll, because most Americans could have given the answer in a micro-second.
But, okay, let’s take a look at the results.
Actually they trust Clinton to manage the economy (55% think Clinton is better at managing the economy) more than they trust Obama (26% think Obama is better at managing the economy).
For that matter, Americans also trust Clinton on the economy more than they trust Mitt Romney, but the Republican candidate does better than Obama against Clinton (55% Clinton - 39% Romney).
Twenty percent were undecided.
My guess is that most Americans would trust almost anybody, even their local Scout Master, to manage the US economy better than the President, considering the mess Obama’s ideas have produced.
Remember that Bill Clinton recently raised a real stir in his own Democrat Party when he disagreed with the White House and called for an extension of the so-called Bush tax cuts. Most voters agree with Clinton and support extending those tax cuts and have more confidence in Clinton’s economic judgment than that of both President Obama and Mitt Romney.
Despite the White House pressure on Clinton, and his repeated rather weak apologies and attempts to get back “on page” as the White House apparently put it, Clinton is now firmly seen by Americans as favoring an extension of the Bush tax cuts.
Last night on CNBC, a White House spokesman took on Maria Bartoromo, saying the White House had never contacted Clinton about his tax cut remarks. She refused to back down, saying she knew for a fact that Clinton had been told to get back “on page.”
This all occurred because at the end of this year, several tax breaks and holidays are scheduled to expire, including the Bush tax cuts. At the same time, automatic spending cuts are will kick in because the Congress couldn’t resolve the debt issue last autumn.
The combination of expiring tax breaks and automatic spending cuts - known as a fiscal cliff - has become THE hot topic because it could derail recovery and throw the country right back into a recession, something which economists think could happen.
"The so-called fiscal cliff would, if allowed to occur, pose a significant threat to the recovery," Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke is reported to have said at a congressional hearing recently.
Clinton said the Bush tax cuts should remain in place, at least until after the November presidential and congressional elections, and he also suggested that it might be wise to keep the tax cuts in place until the economy improves, even though President Obama wants them to expire for wealthier Americans at the end of this year.
Most Americans, the Rasmussen poll finds, agree with Bill Clinton.
"Obama is opposed to extending the Bush tax cuts that are supposed to expire at the end of this year, but only 28 percent of voters agree with him that those tax cuts should be allowed to die," Rasmussen Reports adds.
"Sixty-three percent favor extending the tax cuts, including 36 percent who agree with Romney and think they should be extended permanently and 27 percent who agree with Clinton and believe they should be extended until the economy improves."
This is a key issue for the presidential election and could decide the outcome. Cynic that I am, I still wonder if Bill Clinton and other Democrat Party leaders are not trying to set up a scenario in which President Obama finds it convenient to withdraw as a candidate. Highly unlikely but not impossible. And who would benefit? Hillary Clinton, of course.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on June 7-8, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.