"49% Say Bush Chiefly To Blame for Big Deficit, 43% Blame Obama"?

With a $862 billion stimulus, the large supplemental spending bill last year, lots of additional spending that was supposed to be covered by "pay as you go," and new forthcoming spending such as the government health care bill, how can Obama not be blamed for the deficit? Americans are upset for Bush increasing government spending "too much," but what does that mean about Obama?

Americans overwhelmingly view the federal budget deficit as a major problem, and they blame President Bush and President Obama – and their respective parties - almost equally for the size of it. Most also believe the Bush Administration increased federal spending too much.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 49% of Adults say President George W. Bush and the Republicans are more responsible for the size of the current federal budget deficit. But 43% say President Obama and the Democrats are more responsible.
Predictably, 79% of Democrats see Bush and the GOP as more responsible, while 80% of Republicans point the finger at Obama and his party. Adults not affiliated with either party, by a 53% to 36% margin, say Bush and the Republicans are primarily to blame.
Eighty-one percent (81%) of all Americans view the size of the deficit as a major problem in terms of contributing to the country’s current economic situation. Only 16% say it’s a minor problem.
Most U.S. voters continue to believe that the nation’s current economic problems are due to the recession that began under the Bush administration rather than the policies Obama has put in place since taking office.
Fifty-six percent (56%) of Adults say the Bush administration increased government spending too much. Just 15% say Bush’s administration cut government spending too much, while 21% say it kept spending at about the right level. . . .

Obama's promises:

Second presidential debate:

And what I've proposed, you'll hear Sen. McCain say, well, he's proposing a whole bunch of new spending, but actually I'm cutting more than I'm spending so that it will be a net spending cut. . . .

Look how upset Obama was with the Bush deficit.

When George Bush came into office, we had surpluses. And now we have half-a-trillion-dollar deficit annually.

When George Bush came into office, our debt -- national debt was around $5 trillion. It's now over $10 trillion. We've almost doubled it.

And so while it's true that nobody's completely innocent here, we have had over the last eight years the biggest increases in deficit spending and national debt in our history. And Sen. McCain voted for four out of five of those George Bush budgets. . . .

From the third debate.

Well, first of all, I think it's important for the American public to understand that the $750 billion rescue package, if it's structured properly, and, as president, I will make sure it's structured properly, means that ultimately taxpayers get their money back, and that's important to understand.

But there is no doubt that we've been living beyond our means and we're going to have to make some adjustments.

Now, what I've done throughout this campaign is to propose a net spending cut. I haven't made a promise about... . . .

OBAMA: And we are now looking at a deficit of well over half a trillion dollars.

So one of the things that I think we have to recognize is pursuing the same kinds of policies that we pursued over the last eight years is not going to bring down the deficit. And, frankly, Senator McCain voted for four out of five of President Bush's budgets.

We've got to take this in a new direction, that's what I propose as president. . . . .