Last week, Suffolk University asked an excellent question about Florida voters' opinions as to whether Republicans are deliberately harming economic recovery efforts for partisan gain. The results were very interesting: Almost half (49%) of Floridians said yes, the GOP was cynically hampering attempts to "to jumpstart the economy" in order to thwart Barack Obama's re-election chances.
In response to Suffolk's poll, multiple commentators suggested that this question be asked nationally, so that's exactly what we did.
Public Policy Polling for Daily Kos & SEIU. 11/3-6. Registered voters. MoE ±3.1% (no trendlines):
Q: Do you think the Republicans are intentionally stalling efforts to jumpstart the economy to insure that Barack Obama is not reelected or not?
Yes: 50
No: 41
Unsure: 10
At the time, I noted that I thought Florida was a decently representative state for the nation as a whole. It turns out to be almost exactly so, as the Suffolk survey found almost identical numbers: 49 yes, 39 no, 12 undecided. Our results demonstrate that what's good for one swing state may be good for others, though of course I'd want to test this question elsewhere first. The bigger question is whether Democrats—from the president on down—will have the courage to make this part of their message. The GOP's cynicism knows no bounds, and this poll shows that a majority of Americans are receptive to this message.
And here's one noteworthy detail from our crosstabs: 7% of voters disapprove of Obama but also think the GOP is intentionally obstructing the economy. This could prove to be an interesting swing group, if its members can be convinced that their ire at Republican sabotage outweighs their negative feelings towards the president. At the very least, it's something our side needs to try.