Poll: Generation America Members Oppose President's Jobs Bill

A new national survey of members of Generation America, a membership organization of conservative Americans over 50, finds that they overwhelmingly oppose President Obama's jobs bill as well as Democratic proposals to increase taxes on people earning more than $250,000 per year.

A new national survey of members of Generation America, a membership organization of conservative Americans over 50, finds that they overwhelmingly oppose President Obama's jobs bill as well as Democratic proposals to increase taxes on people earning more than $250,000 per year.

A new Generation America survey shows that conservative Americans oppose President Obama's jobs bill. PHOTO: WHITE HOUSE

The survey was conducted from October 17 through October 24 online and more than 2,500 people responded to questions about the legislation. Seventy-two percent of respondents were men with the rest being women. Twenty-five percent of respondents were 40 to 49 years of age with the majority being over 60 years of age. The survey was conducted by Generation America's research and publishing partner, Parker Media.

The results of the survey were remarkable in that in most previous surveys Generation America members have not identified themselves as being particularly wealthy; most members have reported household incomes of about $100,000 per year. Regardless, members registered strong opposition not just to the legislation, which would cost nearly $500 billion, but also to Democratic proposals to cap tax deductions on those earning over  $250,000 per year as well as increasing taxes on millionaires.

Here are the key findings of the survey:

• Ninety-two percent strongly disagree with the president's proposal. Six percent disagree and not one respondent supported the measure at all.
• Ninety-four percent were extremely doubtful that the president's proposal would generae jobs, if passed by Congress.
• Seventy-five percent strongly disagreed with the White House proposal to cap tax deductions for those earning over $250,000 per year in household income. Eighteen percent disagreed. Less than two percent supported it in any way.
• Seventy-three percent strongly oppose imposing a 5.6 percent surtax, as Senate Democrats have proposed, on people making $1 million per year or more. Twenty percent disagreed with the proposal and less than 7 percent support the proposal.
• Seventy-nine percent agreed with House Speaker John Boehner's statement, calling the legislation a "political stunt" while 18 percent agreed and fewer than 3 percent were neutral or disagreed.
• Eighty-one percent said they strongly supported Congress cutting taxes to stimulate the economy, instead. Nearly 16 percent said they supported such a move and three percent said they were neutral or opposed cutting taxes.