A day before President Barack Obama is slated to give a major speech on the state of the U.S. economy, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney blasted what he called the president's "job-killing" policies.
"My own view is, he will speak eloquently [tomorrow]. But the words are cheap," Romney said, speaking to a group of business leaders at Washington, D.C.'s Newseum on Wednesday.
The president has put forth "the most anti-investment, anti-business, anti-jobs series of policies in modern American history," Romney claimed.
In response, Obama supporters defended the president's record, calling Romney's characterizations of recent policies "disinformation" and "distortion."
"This is no different from any other Romney speech, which is like entering a fact-free zone," Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said during a Americans United for Change press call Wednesday.
"It's unfortunate that Mitt Romney felt he had to distort the president's record," Van Hollen said, adding, "At bottom the Romney plan is simply a return to the Bush trickle-down economics."
Specifically, Center for Economic and Policy Research Co-Director Dean Baker claimed regulation, deemed the number one job killer by the Romney campaign, also has its benefits.
He cited the once-maligned Clean Air Act, which has garnered $2 trillion in saved costs, and the importance of financial regulation in the Dodd-Frank bill to avoid "dead wrong" trades like those admitted to today by JPMorgan President Jamie Dimon.
Speaking about the health care bill, Baker said, "This whole claim that that bill is a job killer really doesn't hold water whatsoever."
However, the repeated attempts at setting the president's economic record straight have not yet had much of a positive effect on public opinion.
Two polls released this week show the American electorate continues to be doubtful about the president's economic policies.
In a new ABC-Washington Post poll, 54 percent of independents - a crucial swing voting bloc - see the president's economic policies in a negative light.
While 47 percent of independents also rate Romney's plans unfavorably, more are undecided, giving Romney some room to maneuver.
A separate Reuters Ipsos poll showed that Romney pulled even with the president in overall favorability numbers (45-44) and leads the president 46 to 43 percent on who would best handle the economy and jobs.
"The economy is going through a rough patch, and that more than anything is going to determine President Obama's future," Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson said, referring to disappointing May jobs numbers released on June 1.
"People's unhappiness with the economy carries over pretty directly to the president's numbers, and we see those weakening," he added.
This couldn't be more accurate, as poll after poll sees the economy as issue number one for American voters.
However, Obama supporters continue to highlight the state of the economy when the president took office four years ago and their excitement to set the record straight come the president debates in the fall.
Romney wants to end Medicare guarantees, cut Medicaid and critical investments in infrastructure, education and scientific research, Rep. Van Hollen said.
He said the Romney plan is "a prescription for decline and clearly a prescription for losing our competitive edge at a time when we need to be sharpening [it]."
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Business News
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.