Presidentonomics

Continuing his push for a gas-tax holiday, Sen. John McCain told a town-hall session last week that he “trust[s] the people and not the so-called economists to give the American people a little relief.”

So who do “the people” trust to give them economic relief? By a margin of 50 percent to 44 percent, it’s Sen. Barack Obama, according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted June 3-4,

Then again, in a poll published May 30, voters said they trusted McCain over Obama on economic stewardship 47 percent to 41 percent.

How can public opinion swing so quickly?

Maybe it’s because people are not terribly good at predicting their own future choices. Or maybe it’s because people have become convinced that a gas-tax holiday is in fact ridiculous.