Poll: Majority of Americans don't blame Obama for economy

Roughly two-thirds of registered voters say the country's rocky economy is something President Obama inherited rather than caused, according to a new poll.

In the McClatchy-Marist poll released Friday, 59 percent of registered voters said the country's economic conditions are mostly something Obama inherited. Thirty-three percent said they are the result of Obama's policies.

Most Democrats say Obama inherited the economy -- 80 percent. Seventeen percent of Democrats said the economy is a result of Obama's policies. Thirty-three percent of of Republicans say Obama inherited the current economic conditions and 59 percent say Obama's policies has made the economy what it is today. 

Republicans have frequently hit Obama for trying to blame the economy on the Bush administration. After two-and-a-half years in office, the GOP argues Obama owns the economy. House Republicans have hit the president's stimulus package and healthcare law as making the economy worse. 

The Obama administration says the economy would be worse off without the stimulus.

While the poll's general findings are good news for Obama, the trend in McClatchy's polling shows voters are moving away from the though that the president inherited the economy. 

The 59 percent of voters who now think Obama inherited the country's economy is the lowest number the survey has found since September 2010. In April 2009, the McClatchy-Marist poll found that 80 percent of voters felt the country's economic conditions were something Obama inherited. 

The polling of registered voters has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

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