Poll: Obama Shares Blame on Economy With Bush

By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

With his speech at West Point last night, President Obama is conceding the obvious: He now owns the war in Afghanistan.

But increasingly, say polls, he's also starting to get the blame for the recession, something his administration has tried to blame former President Bush for. The Winston Group's New Models National Survey revealed the shift in the most recent poll. Asked if the state of the economy is "more the result of President Obama's policies or President Bush's policies," the public is evenly divided at 42 percent for each as recently as October.

In July Bush was still getting the blame, 56 percent to Obama's 29 percent. "The public may have held Bush more responsible earlier in the year, but as of the beginning of October, it was at parity with Obama's policies. This should be very concerning for the White House. President Obama is just now beginning to fully own the economy, and we have already seen significant drops in his job approval," said Winston pollster Myra Miller.

Here is the poll:

Do you think that at this point, the state of the economy is more the result of President Obama's policies, or President Bush's policies?

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