Obama's Stimulus: Tax Break or Chump Change?

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

Americans are not a happy bunch, according to our new Whispers poll from Synovate. The latest downer: Those polled say the income-tax break that amounts to about $13 a week is so small that they won't even notice it. And practically nobody said it was enough to even prompt a McDonald's splurge. Asked what they will do with the much-heralded $13 when it arrives beginning in April, a whopping 63 percent said that it is so small that they won't even notice it. Twenty-five percent said that they would simply apply it to bills. And a combined 12 percent said they'd either go to the movies or take the kids to McDonald's. Men were especially depressed, with 66 percent telling our pollster that the break was chump change. And women sounded more responsible, with 28 percent pledging to use the money to pay down credit card bills. Here are the grim statistics:

The Whispers Poll

Under the president’s stimulus plan, most taxpayers will get a tax break roughly equal to a $13-a-week raise. How will you spend it

Source: The Synovate eNation Internet poll was conducted February 20-24 among 1,000 nationally representative households by global market research firm Synovate.