Does the Public See Obama as "Ineffective on the Economy?"

That's what the headline of an NYT article told readers. The poll that is the basis of the article asked the question: "So far, do you think President Obama's have made the economy better, made the economy worse, or haven't his policies had any effect on the economy yet?" The NYT reports that 48 percent answered that his policies have not had any effect yet. That is very far from describing Obama as "ineffective on the economy." It is hard to have very much effect on a downward plunging economy in after 5 months in office. It has been less than four months since President Obama's stimulus was signed into law. Apparently most of the poll's respondents understand enough about how the economy works to realize that it unreasonable to expect policies to have much effect in such a short period of time. Interestingly, of those who did think the policies already had an effect, more than twice as many (32 percent versus 15 percent) thought the effect was positive rather than negative. It requires some very creative reporting to turn this poll result into a headline asserting the public sees Obama as ineffective on the economy.