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Utahns are less than enamored with President Barack Obama's handling of the nation's economy during what has been described as the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
More than 70 percent of the state's residents believe the president's actions have either hurt the nation's economic situation or had little effect in improving things, according to a Salt Lake Tribune poll of registered voters conducted earlier this week.
That stands in sharp contract to the 46 percent of Utahns who were optimistic prior to the president taking office that his policies would help end the nation's trying times.
"A lot of us wanted to believe that he was going to make a difference," said Maxine Dean of Magna. "But it looks to me as if all the president has done is slap a Band-aid on the economy."
Among the registered voters polled, just 25 percent feel President Obama's actions have improved the nation's economy, while 44 percent believe they have hurt it. Another 27 percent believe the president's economic policies have had little effect and 4 percent were unsure.
Although the White House last month pointed to the 3.5 percent third quarter growth in the nation's gross domestic product as a sign its policies were working, for many Utahns that number remains an abstract statistic, as does the recent rise in the stock market.
Such numbers, they contend, fail to reflect the world where they live -- a world where their wages are being cut and their friends, family and neighbors are losings their homes and jobs.
"You hear that things are getting better but it sure doesn't feel like it to me," said Marla Gledhill, a warehouse worker who lives in La Verkin. "I had to take a 10 percent cut in pay after the recession started, and I still haven't gotten that back yet."
For some Utah economists, such views reflect a disconnect between the long-term outlook for the economy and short-term performance that many Utahns measure by the money they have in their pockets and how secure they feel in their jobs.
"Just 14 months ago there was talk of the possibility the country might slip into another Great Depression," said Jeff Thredgold, a Utah economist and economic consultant to Zions Bank.
He said in the minds of most economists there is little question that the combination of the steps the Bush administration took last fall and the actions later taken by Obama helped stabilize the economy.
"If the calendar had been such that George Bush had remained in office for another year, we still would have gotten a stimulus program," he said. "The question was do you do nothing or do you try to help. It [the stimulus] was the lesser of two evils."
Still, many Utahns worry about the massive debt the federal government has run up in its effort to improve the economy and the threat that such $1 trillion plus annual deficits will continue into the foreseeable future.
"I'm concerned about what those deficits are going to do to the economy," said Roberto Picket of Salt Lake City. "It just seems like we're just digging ourselves deeper and deeper into the hole."
Picket said he worries the Obama administration is going after a quick fix for the economy and ignoring the long-term implications of its programs. "The president has tossed a hungry man a fish, but he hasn't yet handed out the fishing poles."
But should the economy turn around and Obama's programs prove effective without any detrimental effects, Picket said he will be among the first to applaud. "If three years from now the economy has come back and the unemployment rate and deficits are down, I'll be telling everyone that I think President Obama is a brilliant man."
When it comes to supporting the president now, though, just 25 percent of the registered voters polled believe that the president's actions have improved the nation's economic situation.
"He did everything that needed to be done," said Gordon Roberts, a retired attorney who lives in Salt Lake City. "It is just going to take a while before the economy gets back on track."
Roberts doesn't understand those who believe Obama's policies have hurt the economy. "When he took office the economy was really screwed up. So how could he have hurt the economy? It would be like hurting a dead man."
As Obama was preparing to take office in January, 46 percent of Utah voters expected the president to improve the economy. On the other hand, 13 percent believed he would hurt the economy and 29 percent though his policies would have little effect. Another 12 percent of voters were unsure.
