Poll: Americans say no one has good jobs plan

CBS

CBS News Poll analysis by the CBS News Polling Unit: Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus and Anthony Salvanto.

Most Americans believe that neither President Obama nor Republicans in Congress have a clear plan for creating jobs, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll.

According to the survey, only 38 percent of Americans believe Mr. Obama has a concrete jobs plan - despite his recent cross-country tour touting the $445 billion American Jobs Act, which Congress rejected earlier this month.

Even fewer Americans - only 20 percent - believe Republicans in Congress have a clear plan for creating jobs.

Overall, 56 percent say Mr. Obama lacks a strong jobs plan, and 71 percent say the same of congressional Republicans.

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Moreover, few have faith in Congress' ability to reach an agreement on a jobs plan. Only 28 percent of Americans say they are confident that Republicans and Democrats in Congress will agree on a jobs package, while 73 percent say they are not confident.

Despite their apparent ambivalence about the president's overall jobs package, Americans do support many of Mr. Obama's individual proposals to create jobs. Eight in ten say they would approve of government spending on infrastructure as a path to job creation, and 65 percent say they would support spending money to hire teachers, cops, and firefighters. A majority - 53 percent - say they would support government spending directed toward the hiring of public employees in general.

Americans across the board agree on infrastructure spending. Republicans, however, are more likely than Democrats and independents to object to government spending on public employees.

Americans largely support the idea of giving tax cuts to small businesses. Seventy-eight percent say they approve of implementing a small business tax cut to create jobs, while 51 percent say a payroll tax cut is a good idea. Fifty percent approve of easing business regulations.

Sixty-five percent of Americans say they'd support a tax increase on million-dollar-plus households if it meant lowering the budget deficit. Republicans, however, are less supportive of that idea than independents and Democrats: Only 38 percent of Republicans say households earning $1 million or more should have their taxes raised, while 80 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of independents say the same.

Meanwhile, just 27 percent of Americans overall say cutting corporate taxes is a good way to create jobs.

Two in three Americans say they believe Republicans in Congress favor the rich. Nine percent say they favor the middle class, while 2 percent say they favor the poor. Fifteen percent say Republicans in Congress treat all classes equally.

Twenty-eight percent say the Obama administration favors the rich. Twenty-three percent say the administration favors the middle class, 17 percent say it favors the poor, and 21 percent say it treats all Americans equally.

The survey found that most Americans consider themselves to be middle- or working-class, and those who call themselves lower class tend to think the Obama administration favors the rich. Americans of all classes say Republicans favor the rich.

Congressional approval ratings, meanwhile, are at an all-time low. Only 9 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, and just one in 10 Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right all or most of the time. Eighty-nine percent - a record high - say they trust government only some of the time or never.

Mr. Obama's overall job rating remains below 50 percent, with 46 percent of Americans approving of his performance and 46 percent disapproving.

The president's marks on foreign policy are higher: Sixty percent approve of his handling of the war in Iraq, and 50 percent approve of his foreign policy in general.

More than half of those surveyed point to the economy and jobs as the most important problems facing the country. Only 14 percent think the economy is in good shape, and 36 percent think it's getting worse. Just 38 percent approve of the president's handling of the economy, and 35 percent approve of his record on job creation.

Overall, just one in five Americans think the country is headed in the right direction; 74 percent think it is on the wrong track.

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This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1,650 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone October 19-24, 2011. Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher. An oversample was conducted for this survey which will be analyzed in a future poll release. This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

[noloyalisti]

The only way to really create jobs is a complete and radical shakeup of the corrupted failed system we have set up in this country. It starts with massive taxation of the top 1% and investigation and prosecution of many, many corporations and their executives.

Then we need to get rid of all corporate lobbyists, get all corporate money out of politics and repeal all the free-trade agreements. Of course since the Top 1% wrote all these laws and seized the government, it is going to be very hard to do until millions rise up and crush the RepubliDems Top 1% Party.

[marychgo]

The poll results are pretty simple, folks. The American people support infrastructure investment, hiring first responders and teachers, and hiring other public servants. They don't know (thanks to the media) that those three things are central to the Obama jobs program...or they realize (again, thanks to the media) that the GOP won't allow those three options to be enacted. Meanwhile, the American people oppose all Republican "jobs programs," aka giving money to rich people.

Seems to me the stupidity is not attributable to the American people or even the media, but to the GOP....

[Rebrog]

It is not the job of a President to have a jobs plan... nor should the Congress. They need to get out of the job of running our lives, it isn't Constitutional and I am sick and tired of these socialist policies... look at the poll above, everybody wants the government to spend more money but take less, and we are in deep,deep debt. Why ask the government to take care of you? That's your own responsibility, and if the government hadn't been trying to control businesses and our markets with their erroneous Keynesian policies we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. People wake up! You can, too, take care of yourself, it doesn't take the Federal Government to do it for you.

[myabc123]

Another important issue regarding the outsourcing of American jobs is national security.

For example,
When you have a problem with your Verizon FIOS service (which includes TV, internet and telephone) and call for assistance you are probably going to get a technician in India at the other end of the line. What does this mean? It means that call center employees in India have the ability to go into our communications network in the United States in order to be able to fix a trouble.
I also notice that when I call my bank and many credit card companies I am not reaching a person in the USA. This means call center employees overseas have access to my bank accounts,credit card accounts etc...

I don't think that America is very popular in some of these countries that we are outsourcing to.

Are you comfortable with this setup in the age of terrorism we live in? I'm not.
Terrorism does not have to be a bomb going off, it can be the downing of our financial or communication network.
Why should Verizon and the banks even have to outsource at all with the BILLIONs of dollars in profit they make every quarter?
Who are the politicians that think that this is ok to do?
Why are the people on the right who are usually very concerned with national security not opposed to this?

I am not a commie, hell I'm not even a Democrat, but the game is rigged and that's why I sympathize with these protesters.

[jameskyeestes]

CBS is the network that was going to shape and forge my conscience through people like walter cronkite and dan rather.. i lost respect for CBS in the early 1960s , and now they are in full support of a psycho/socialist , who happens to be the president of this country, for them to continue supporting a man who has intentionally damaged this country is un-acceptable ..

[expatriate2]

My Plan: A seven percent flat tax for all non-corporate tax payers. Corporations would pay a tax equal to the average national unemployment percentage (counting all people not working who want to work) for the year period of May to December. This would prevent corporations from accelerating employment before April 15 and then laying them off after they pay taxes.

[Ralph-Bee]

One very simple solution to creating a better economy and reduce unemployment. The best part of it all, shouldn't cost taxpayers a dime. "CHEAPER GASOLINE PRICES" That's all it takes. If the average family is spending $600 a month on gasoline, just imagine if it was reduce to $300 a month. That folks is a yearly savings of $3600, which could be spent on other things to boost the economy. Businesses would also save on fuel cost which could leads to more hiring from the increase of consumer spending. As one would say, "it's the high price of gas stupid"

[ge556]

A very bad idea. More pollution, more global warming. And where's the money going to come from?
We have to cut back, not use more.

[gep1955]

The poll is a falacy because you in the press refuse to present both sides of the issue fairly. You champion whatever the president says. Fine, do so at your own peril. There are currently 15 bills sitting at the US senate controlled by democrats holding things up. Where's your story on that?

[Paul_I]

So you are decrying the abuse of the Senate rule on cloture to stall legislation? You've called out the wrong party!

[WeHappyFew]

If your company manufactures anything en masse, you are going to get that done in China. If you don't, you don't have a business.

[truth2betold]

I disagree, if we apply American dedication to the problem of production we can re-industrial with new, modern, high facilities and light industry. Those who believe the myth we can't produce are brain-washed by the corporations seeking the lowerst costs. They think exactly as a profit entity should.

It is the job of government to lead businesses for the greater good of society. Left alone business' imperative is one thing making a profit, regardless of social costs and social considerations. We would have even more Love Canals and rivers catching fire, if society tolerated high rate of birth defects, cancer, and caulderns of deadly poison. Business must serve society, when they don't, they cease relevance.

Borrowing as a nation is in large part a direct result of things being made elsewhere. That to a point is healthy, but not at the expense of loosing your status as a net producing economy. Germany is still a net producer and has an "industrial policy" that insures its citizens jobs. We are a rudderless ship on the high seas of international commerce, as to a definitive American policy on industrial policy. It is high time we developed one.

[anneshelby]

The president has put the lazy congress to work. The banks owe us. We should seize them and take back out tax dollars and use the money to help people keep their homes. People are more powerful that any government on earth.