Lots of sturm und drang over the latest Gallup/USA Today poll apportioning blame for the economy to former President Bush and President Obama. It's true that for the first time more than 50% (some 53%) now say President Obama deserves a moderate or great deal of the blame, but 69% say the same about President Bush. The real story is in the crosstabs:
The real difference here is that half of Republicans blame Bush for the economy. That hasn't changed much. Independents still blame the former President but there's increasing blame for the current one. Considering most of the GOP is running on Bush's economic plan of tax cuts, deregulation, and adding cuts to Social Security and Medicare, if the question is which economic plan they dislike more, the GOP is not winning hearts and minds here.
Still a lot can change in a year before the election, however.
