49% Blame Bad Economy on Bush's Recession, 44% on Obama's Policies

Voters are more closely divided than they have been all year over who is more to blame for the nation’s current economic problems — President George W. Bush or President Barack Obama.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 49% of Likely U.S. Voters now blame the bad economy on the recession which began under the Bush administration. Forty-four percent (44%) blame the economic problems on Obama's policies. That's the narrowest the blame gap has been since October of last year. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Last month, 54% blamed the economy on the Bush years, while 39% said Obama was to blame.  In surveys since May 2009, 47% to 62% of voters have blamed the nation's economic woes on the recession that began under the previous president. In those same surveys, 27% to 48% have blamed the policies of the current president. 

When it comes to the economic issues affecting the nation, 61% trust their own judgment more than Obama's. That finding has remained in the high 50s-to-low 60s since June 2009. Twenty-eight percent (28%) place more trust in the president's judgment, while 11% are undecided.

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The national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on June 12-13, 2011 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. See methodology.