Following the President's strenuous efforts to get Congress to pass the tax-cut deal that he negotiated with Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, approval of President Obama's handling of taxes is up. Perhaps due to uncertainty over the pending tax-cut deal, assessments of President Obama's performance on the economy and taxes were lower than normal last week (31% approval for both issues). This week, following the bill's passage by Congress, those measures have both bounced back up to 36% for taxes and 37% for the overall economy.
The bill extends the Bush-era tax cuts for all income levels for two years and extends long-term unemployment insurance while costing the federal government $858 billion. More Americans favor this tax-cut bill than oppose it, although nearly a third don't have an opinion. Republicans and Democrats are in rare agreement on this issue. 50% of Democrats and 51% of Republicans favor the bill. Fewer independents favor it, though even there, more favor than oppose the bill.
A plurality of Americans think the bill will help the economy, although residents of the South aren't so sure. There, roughly equal percents think the bill will help the economy as think it will not help. Republicans in Congress argue that the tax-cuts will help the economy by stimulating job growth. But Americans don't believe this argument. 45% say the bill will not create new jobs in the U.S.; just short of a quarter say it will. 32% are unsure. Even Republicans don't buy their party's argument. Although they are more likely than others to expect the tax-cut bill to result in job growth, only 31% of Republicans believe this, compared to 43% who do not expect job growth.
