Economists Overwhelmingly Agree that Obama Is Stronger on the Economy

[maddezmom]

Economists Overwhelmingly Agree that Obama Is Stronger on the Economy
Category: Barack Obama • Election 2008 • John McCain • economics • elections
Posted on: October 5, 2008 5:22 PM, by Nick Anthis

Recent polls have shown that voters trust Obama over McCain in addressing the economy by a margin of about 10-15%. But, what do the experts think?

The Economist conducted its own poll of economists (appropriately), and found that they agreed that Obama is the stronger candidate when it comes to the economy--but by a much wider margin. Eighty percent respondents agreed that Obama has a better grasp of economics (versus 8% for McCain), and 81% believed that Obama would pick the better economic team (versus 14% for McCain). On a scale of 1-5, respondents gave Obama's economic plan a 3.3 and McCain's a 2.1.

McCain couldn't even catch a break from Republicans. Although these self-identified Republican economists gave McCain the benefit of the doubt on their assessment of his economic plan and his prospects for picking a better economic team, 46% said that Obama appears to have a better grasp of economics (versus 23% for McCain). This graphic from The Economist gives you an idea of just how stark the results of this survey were:

more:http://scienceblogs.com/scientificactivist/2008/10/recent_polls_have_shown_that.php

[chupacabranation]

1. NICE. FIND. Need to publicize this! K&R K&R K&R!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[stillcool]

2. Good read... I liked this part..

“John McCain has professed disdain for ‘so-called economists’, and for some the feeling has become mutual,” says Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. “Obama’s team is mainstream and non-ideological but extremely talented.”
http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12342127

[tclambert]

3. There's a strong anti-intellectual streak in America

It may not help much if experts in the field support Barack Obama. After all, we take our medical advice from Tom Cruise or Brooke Shields. Ask doctors for medical advice? C'mon. "I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV." That actually sold a lot of headache relief pills.

It would be nice if, for one election, we did listen to the smart people, and elected the smart people. But then the last guy "won" the election because he hated gay marriage more than the other guy. Didn't seem to matter that his first term record made him a contender for title of Worst President Ever.