Poll finds majority pessimistic on Obama job plan, economy

A slim majority of Americans don’t think President Obama’s recently announced job-creation plan will slash unemployment, a new poll found.

According to a Bloomberg poll released Wednesday, 51 percent of Americans don’t think Obama’s American Jobs Act will lower the country’s unemployment rate. The poll found that 40 percent think Obama’s jobs package has a chance of creating jobs and lowering the unemployment rate.

Additionally, the Bloomberg poll found that 62 percent of Americans do not approve of how Obama has handled the economy, while 33 percent approve.

The Bloomberg poll comes almost a week after Obama announced his new $447 billion job-creation legislation, made up of new infrastructure spending, additional unemployment insurance benefits and an extension of the employee payroll tax cut introduced earlier this year. 

At a press gaggle with reporters, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the poll shows roughly half the American people think Obama’s plan will create jobs. “I think that means half the American people, based on that poll, believe it will help create jobs and grow the economy," Carney said. "The American people want Washington to take action.”

Since Obama has announced the legislation, he’s urged Congress to take swift action on passing it.

On Tuesday the White House indicated that while Obama might prefer to pass the jobs package as one big item, he would also push to pass it in pieces if that was necessary.

The Bloomberg poll surveyed 997 adults and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

— This story was updated at 11:52 a.m.

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