76% say Obama can fix economy - poll
CNN survey shows about three-quarters believe Obama will improve economic conditions and calm markets.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A poll released Thursday found that a majority of Americans believe that President-elect Barack Obama can fix the economy.
According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll, 76% of Americans said they believe it's likely that Obama will improve economic conditions.
In addition, 73% of those surveyed said they believe that Obama will bring stability to the financial markets.
The poll shows that the public is optimistic about the incoming administration in spite of the tough economic conditions, according to Martha Joynt Kumar, professor of political science at Towson University in Maryland and director of the White House Transition Project, a research group.
"I think it speaks to the goodwill that the public has for President-Elect Obama," Kumar said.
"The public realizes that we are in tough economic times, but they still have some optimism that in the future that we will be on firmer financial ground. Although people are clearly worried about when that time will come," she said.
Obama, who won 53% of the popular vote on Nov. 4, takes office Jan. 20. Many have compared the obstacles that face him to those Franklin Delano Roosevelt confronted when he won the 1932 election.
Last week, speaking at his first press conference as president-elect, Obama said that the country is "facing the greatest economic challenge of our lifetime."
The poll was based on telephone interviews with 1,246 adult Americans conducted on Nov. 6-9, 2008. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Of those surveyed, 67% said they believe that Obama will stick to one of his most talked about promises: providing tax cuts to the middle class.
Obama's plans include providing a $1,000 tax cut for working couples making less than $250,000 and introducing other tax breaks for lower and middle-income households.
Another one of Obama's campaign pledges included leaving all tax cuts in place for everyone except couples making more than $250,000 and single filers making more than $200,000. Those high-income groups would see their top two income tax rates revert to 36% and 39.6% from 33% and 35%, respectively.
A majority surveyed in the CNN poll also believe that Obama's presidency will significantly reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil. Nearly two-thirds, or 63%, of respondents said that was somewhat or very likely to occur. 
