Poll: Majority Say No Federal Bailout for Homeowners, Banks

MBA (4/4/2008 ) MBA Staff
A new poll from Rasmussen Reports found that 53 percent of Americans said the federal government should not provide a bailout for homeowners who borrowed more than they could afford.
And an even larger majority—61 percent—said the government should not help out the banks that made those loans. Only 15 percent of those surveyed said banks should receive federal assistance.

Nearly one-third (29 percent) said the federal government should take action to assist such homeowners; 17 percent said they were not sure. The Rasmussen national telephone survey, conducted with Fox Television Stations Inc., took place in late March.

Rasmussen officials said the poll results were consistent with an earlier survey (December) in which 54 percent of Americans said individual borrowers, not Wall Street investors, were responsible for their own actions in obtaining loans that they could not repay.

The current survey further broke down responses by party affiliation. It found that respondents who identified themselves as Republican tended to be more strongly opposed (68 percent) to a federal bailout than Democrats (53 percent). Of those who identified themselves as independents (not affiliated with either major party), 64 percent opposed a bailout.

In providing assistance to homeowners who borrowed more than they could afford, Democrats were evenly divided. Republicans oppose federal assistance by 67 percent to 19 percent; 55 percent of those not affiliated with either party also oppose federal support for those troubled homeowners. Just 24 percent of the unaffiliated believe federal help is a good idea.

The survey comes as the Senate debates an economic stimulus package that appears to have broad bipartisan support, as well as qualified support from the real estate finance industry.

The survey also found that 31 percent believe the private sector has a bigger impact on the health of the economy than Congress, the Administration or the Federal Reserve. Twenty-eight percent said that Congress had the biggest impact, while 14 percent named the President and another 14 percent named the Federal Reserve.