Hill poll shows 62% opposed to raising the debt ceiling

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner warned of “catastrophic economic consequences” if Congress doesn’t raise the statutory debt ceiling next month, when the US will hit the limit on borrowing.  White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee called it “deeply irresponsible” when speaking on behalf of the Obama administration.  Those warnings have been so ineffective that they have failed to convince Barack Obama’s own voters, let alone Republicans and independents, according to a new poll by The Hill:

Only 27 percent of likely voters favor raising the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt ceiling, while 62 percent oppose it, according to an exclusive poll for The Hill.

The poll found solid opposition from Republicans and also from independent voters, who are critical to President Obama’s re-election in 2012.

Seventy-seven percent of likely GOP voters and 64 percent of independent voters said they don’t want the debt ceiling to be raised. Even among Democrats, more oppose raising the ceiling (46 percent) than support it (42 percent).

These results are largely in line with a previous poll from Reuters on the same subject.  Almost a month ago, Reuters found 71% of adults opposed to further increases in the debt ceiling, although they didn’t break results out on a partisan basis.  Instead of raising the debt ceiling, Reuters’ respondents wanted spending cuts instead.

The poll has other bad news for Obama, too.  Only 40% believe that the stimulus package in 2009 helped the economy; 54% believe it either hurt (30%) or did nothing at all (24%).  Those same numbers hold up for independents (39/56), but among Republicans, they go to 13/80.  Obama appears to have lost the philosophical argument on whether stimulus spending creates jobs, which comes in at 36/48 among all voters and 24/61 among independents.  Obama’s call for greater “investment” from his SOTU speech has landed with a thud among voters.

On economic policy, Obama now loses to House Republicans.  Among all voters, his policies get a 41/44 rating, while the House GOP is expected to improve the economy by 44/30.  Among independents, that’s 37/47 and 44/22, respectively.