Monmouth University's national poll of a thousand Americans was issued Wednesday the 31st, headlined "Obama Middle Class Focus Too Little Too Late?", and it reports that when people were asked whom Obama's policies have helped, 44% said "Wall Street bankers," 35% said "Wealthy families," 34% said "Health insurance companies," 20% said "Poor families," and 12% said "Middle class families." Even Democrats and Blacks believe overwhelmingly that neither middle-class families nor poor families have been helped by Obama's policies.
Obama thus seems doomed to go down in history as an elitist President who helped only the powerful, and who hurt the vast majority of Americans. However, this same poll showed that "Congress" (no question for "Democrats in Congress" and for "Republicans in Congress," nor for "Senate" versus "House") was even more despised than this President. Whereas on almost all questions, respondents remarkably agreed, there was somewhat higher trust by Democrats than by Republicans that Obama will now at least try to help the middle class.
But overall, the findings in this poll seem to spell virtual doom for Obama's future reputation. His rhetoric is overwhelmingly distrusted.
Because Congress is even more loathed than is Obama, only 4% of respondents said "Very likely" when asked "How likely is it that Congress will enact policies to help the middle class?" 26% said "Likely." 68% thought it was unlikely. As on most of the questions, Democrats and Republicans were in striking (and unusual) agreement.
Americans are finally finding consensus on something important: they don't like the people whom Americans have elected to federal office.
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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They're Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST'S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.