More troubling poll data for President Obama. According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Public perceptions of two of the federal government’s most sweeping efforts to right the economy could be contributing to the pessimism. More than six-in-ten (62%) say the economic stimulus package enacted by Congress last year has not helped the job situation… Substantial majorities of Republicans (79%) and independents (69%) say that last year’s economic stimulus has not helped the job situation. Even among Democrats, opinions about the effectiveness of the stimulus are not overwhelmingly positive: 51% say it has helped the job situation while 42% say it has not.

President Obama would undoubtedly publicly ascribe this to a communications failure – and privately, one can imagine, he will blame the public for its ignorance of what a remarkable and historic piece of legislation the so-called stimulus package was. The fact that unemployment increased around 20 percent above what the administration had estimated should, of course, be ignored. It is an inconvenient fact for an administration that is, on so many different fronts, out of touch with reality. Elections have a way of correcting, or at least compensating for, such things.