Poll: 70 percent unhappy with economy, want incumbents replaced

The 2012 election could prove to be another voter referendum on Congress's handling of the economy, according to a new poll released Tuesday.

The new ABC News/Washington Post survey found that 70 percent of voters who are unhappy with the state of the economy are looking to replace incumbent members of Congress with someone new.

Voters are blaming both Republicans and Democrats for the slow recovery and difficulty finding jobs.

The election in 2010, in which the GOP took the majority in the House, was widely considered a referendum on the way Democrats were handling the government and specifically healthcare and the economy. But the survey finds that just 30 percent of Republicans and 28 percent of conservatives polled think the Republicans in Congress are making things better.

Obama and Democrats still take some of the blame, with Obama’s approval rating now at 39 percent, the poll found. According to 37 percent of respondents, Obama’s actions have made the economy worse, while 41 percent approve of how he’s handling job creation — which is still higher than the 26 percent who approve of the GOP’s job-creation efforts.

Republicans have criticized Obama for casting blame on his Republican predecessor's handling of the economy, but that strategy might strike a chord with voters, 57 percent of whom assign some blame for the state of the economy to former President George W. Bush.