Daily Times

The US economy continues to be the “most important issue” facing Americans in the last year of Barack Obama’s unpopular presidency.

Once again, the underperforming economy in general, unemployment and jobs top the list of the voters’ greatest concerns. No other issue comes close, not immigration or terrorism, or the budget deficit, according to this month’s Gallup poll.

Nothing else we know about the direction of our country and the mood of the electorate more powerfully expresses the overriding political issue that continues to plague our nation.

“Americans in April continue to cite the economy as the single most important problem for the U.S,” Gallup reports, with 17 percent mentioning the economy generally, and 9 percent more pointing to unemployment and jobs.

“Overall, 40 percent of Americans mention at least one problem that is economic in nature, similar to the past two months,” Gallup reported.

“Dissatisfaction with government” comes in second with 13 percent mentioning it as their chief concern.

President Obama and the Democrats continue to insist that under their control of the government’s executive branch, things have never been better.

But Gallup’s latest survey found that overall, 71 percent of Americans are “dissatisfied with the country’s direction.”

Notably, though, while “majorities of both Republicans and Democrats say they are dissatisfied with the country’s direction, Republican dissatisfaction (85 percent) far outpaces that of Democrats (54 percent),” Gallup said.

Still, 54 percent of Democrats isn’t chopped liver, either, particularly when a Democrat is running the country and controls the economic agenda. And it explains why many Democrats are supporting self-described socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders in their party’s presidential primaries and caucuses.

All of this raises profound questions about why so few voters have little confidence in the two leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination — Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz — on fixing the economy.

“Nearly half of Americans express a ‘great deal” or ‘fair amount’ of confidence” in Mr. Sanders (47 percent) and Republican Gov. John Kasich of Ohio (46 percent) “to recommend the right things for the US economy.”

Surprisingly, Gallup said its telephone interviews found that these two men drew “the highest ratings among the five remaining presidential candidates.”

On the other hand, only 30 percent of Americans had a “great deal or fair amount” of confidence in Mr. Trump to handle the economy, while a whopping 68 percent said they had “only a little/almost none.”

Mr. Cruz didn’t do much better than that. Only 35 percent had confidence in him to strengthen the economy, while 60 percent had “only a little” or “almost none.” Courtesy – The Washington Times