USA TODAY/Gallup Poll: Obama now owns the poor economy

It's abut time. The blame Bush card was wearing thin.

WASHINGTON — Americans’ pessimism about the economy and its future is deepening, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, and they are increasingly willing to hold President Obama responsible for hard times.
Eight of 10 say the economy is in a recession, and nearly as many say it hasn’t improved over the past year. Even more ominous: Six in 10 predict the economy a year from now will be the same or worse than today, a downturn from the public’s views last year and the year before.

Former president George W. Bush deserves a great deal of blame, 36% say, a decline of 7 percentage points since mid-2009, five months after he had left office.

Twenty-four percent say Obama deserves a great deal of the blame, up 10 points since 2009. For the first time since he took office, a majority of Americans — including six in 10 independents — say he deserves a great deal or moderate amount of blame for the nation’s economic woes.