L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll: Only 31% favor bailout
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News item from Bloomberg News tonight:
Americans oppose government rescues of ailing financial companies by a decisive margin, and blame Wall Street and President George. W. Bush for the credit crisis. By a margin of 55 percent to 31 percent, Americans say it’s not the government’s responsibility to bail out private companies with taxpayer dollars, even if their collapse could damage the economy, according to the latest Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll.
Here’s how the Los Angeles Times reports the same findings:
Most Americans don’t believe the government has responsibility for bailing out financial firms with taxpayer money, a core part of the rescue plan Congress is considering to halt the near-meltdown of the nation’s financial markets, a Times/Bloomberg poll has found.Reluctance to use public money to rescue private firms runs across the population, the poll found: Democrats and Republicans, high-income and low-income families alike.
Two cents: The poll was conducted from Friday through Monday. Most Americans probably didn’t learn until Sunday, or Monday, that Treasury was demanding $700 billion without meaningful Congressional oversight. My sense is that the bailout is becoming less popular each day, and that a poll taken this week would show even deeper opposition to the original Paulson plan.
Does it make the bailout more acceptable if you add on aid to homeowners and limits on executive pay? That’s certainly the way Congressional leadership thinks, but I’m not sure most Americans go along.
— Peter Viles
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