These poll numbers were released earlier today by Rasmussen Reports -- "an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information."
Most Voters Still Say Bailouts Were a Bad Idea
Monday, January 11, 2010
Looking back, most U.S. voters still don't approve of the government bailouts of the financial industry and troubled automakers General Motors and Chrysler.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 30% of voters think it was a good idea for the government to provide bailout funding for banks and other financial institutions. Fifty-six percent (56%) hold the opposite view and believe it was a bad idea. These findings are virtually unchanged from April of last year.
The new numbers are similar when it comes to the bailout funding for GM and Chrysler. Thirty-two percent (32%) like the idea of the auto bailouts, but 58% don't. These findings, too, are consistent with what voters have thought of the auto bailouts all along.
Government bailouts are one of the issues that have fueled populist anger over the past year. Seventy-three percent (73%) of those in the Political Class think the auto bailouts were a good idea. Response from those with populist or Mainstream views are just the opposite: 73% of this group see the auto bailouts as a bad idea. The numbers are nearly the same for the bailouts of the financial industry.
Seventy-one percent (71%) of all voters nationwide say they're at least somewhat angry about the current policies of the federal government . That figure includes 46% who are Very Angry.
Voters are evenly divided on the short-term economic impact of the bailouts. But they see the long-term impact as decidedly negative.
On a short-term basis, 38% think they helped the economy, and 35% say they hurt. However, looking longer-term, 54% say the bailouts hurt while just 27% believe they helped.
Most Democrats believe that the bailouts helped the economy in both the short-term and the long-term.
Republicans, by a 47% to 23% margin, believe that the bailouts hurt in the short-term. When looking longer term, 74% of GOP voters say the bailouts hurt.
Voters not affiliated with either major party are fairly evenly divided about the short-term impact of the bailouts. However, by a 60% to 17% margin, unaffiliated voters believe the bailouts will hurt the economy in the longer-term.
Thirty-six percent (36%) of voters believe it's at least somewhat likely that the bailout money will be repaid. Sixty percent (60%) say repayment's not likely. Those figures include 10% who believe repayment is Very Likely and 22% who say it's Not at All Likely.
Most in the Political Class believe the bailout money will be repaid. As for those with Mainstream views, 73% say repayment is unlikely.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is hoping for a federal bailout to keep his state from going bankrupt. But just 27% of voters nationwide believe the federal government should provide bailout funding for California . Fifty-five percent (55%) think the federal government should let the state go bankrupt instead.
For the first time since Congress passed the $787-billion economic stimulus plan last February, a plurality (38%) of voters believes it has hurt the economy rather than helped it. Thirty percent (30%) say the stimulus has helped, and 28% say it's had no impact.