53 percent of Americans polled opposed to Wall Street bail out package

Washington, Oct 11 : A new FOX News poll has claimed that a majority of Americans are not supportive or enthused about the Bush Administration's 700 billion dollar bail out package to stop the meltdown on Wall Street.

A 53 percent majority thinks government involvement is not part of the solution at all, but part of the problem. This view is more intense among Republicans (69 percent) and independents (59 percent)-though a large minority of Democrats (40 percent) also views government involvement in a negative light.

About one-third (34 percent) support it. Even higher majorities oppose the package among Republicans (57 percent) and independents (59 percent). Moreover, most voters backing Barack Obama (47 percent) and John McCain (56 percent) also oppose the bailout plan.

Opinion Dynamics Corp. conducted the national telephone poll for FOX News among 900 registered voters on October 8 and 9. The poll has a 3-point error margin.

When it comes to gauging the overall impact of the rescue package, one-third (33 percent) think it will help the economy at large - while most feel it will either have no impact (29 percent) or will end up hurting the economy (26 percent). Even fewer people (16 percent) think the bailout will help their own family's financial situation - while nearly half (47 percent) think it will have no impact and almost one-third (28 percent) think it will hurt their personal finances.

A majority of voters (53 percent) thinks the bailout package shows that government leaders "have no idea what they're doing." More remarkably, only six percent believe officials "know exactly what they're doing and how the rescue plan will affect the economy."

While the continued low ratings of both the president and Congress indicate a lack of confidence in Washington, these results are nevertheless staggering.

This new poll also shows that, philosophically, Americans of all stripes are averse to using taxpayer money to bail out financially troubled companies. More than 80 percent of Democrats, Republicans and independents agree on this view - a rare example of consensus this election year.

Solid majorities in all three-voter groups also believe that, given the current financial environment, lower taxes and smaller government are preferable to the alternative (66 percent of Democrats; 91 percent of Republicans; 72 percent of independents).

These data suggest that voters are highly displeased with the response of the federal government to the financial crisis that erupted over the last several weeks.

ANI