ABC Poll: 88% concerned failure of bailout bill could lead to more severe economic decline

[dkf]

Americans overwhelmingly are concerned that Congress' rejection of a financial rescue plan could lead to a more severe economic decline in this country. And the public divides about evenly on whether or not the government ultimately will be able to prevent it.

In this latest ABC News/Washington Poll poll, voters are evenly divided on the bailout plan itself, with 45 percent in favor and 47 percent opposed, but they see Republicans in Congress as mainly responsible for rejection of the plan, by a 2-1 margin.

Yet registered voters at the same time also divide about evenly on the bailout plan itself. Barely more than half are ready to call the situation a "crisis," though nearly all the rest call it a serious problem. And while a narrow majority is pessimistic about the economy's future over the next year, six in 10 remain optimistic about their own family's finances.

Eighty-eight percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll, conducted Monday night, say they're concerned the action in Congress could worsen an economic downturn; 51 percent are "very" concerned about it.

http://abcnews.go.com/PollingUnit/Politics/story?id=5918879&page=1

http://abcnews.go.com/images/PollingUnit/1074a1Economy.pdf

If we can't get a bill passed and have problems, those who voted "NO" will be pinned with being responsible for a bad economy.

The "NO" votes now own our economic problems. I hope they have a better solution that works.

[Alter Ego]

1. Sounds like people are realizing that it is indeed necessary to do something.

We're just not agreed on what.

[dkf]

3. I don't think most people recognize exactly what the problem is.

A typical person, when confronted with an inability to borrow, won't know its because institutions are refusing to loan to each other. Or if they don't get a paycheck, they won't realize its because their employer couldn't use their line of credit.

Therefore, they wouldn't recognize a bill that would fix what is wrong.

[Barack_America]

8. They don't understand the problem or the "solution".

As a result, we are paralyzed as a nation.

Why Bush hasn't trotted out a single coherent representative to explain this to the American people, I'll never understand.

[iiibbb]

16. Who understands it? I doubt anyone really understands it...

[maui9002]

17. That's the job of the President

and not only is he woefully incapable of providing the appropriate explanation of what's going on and reassuring the American people that things will be ok, but he's utterly destroyed any trust in the office; frankly, most Americans, including Republicans, just don't believe what he says.

[Barack_America]

19. Yup. Check out my post #2. nt

[maui9002]

20. Agreed. I read a book about FDR and the First 100 Days

The book describes his first fireside chat on the banking crisis that gripped the nation during the Great Depression. All of the banks were closed across the country when he took office in March 1933. The author claims that many felt that speech alone allowed the banking industry to revive because he did the one thing that was needed; he restored confidence. In fact, the author credits one line from that speech for reversing the psychology that started the run on the banks--everyone was trying to convert their deposits into cash or gold, and many banks failed because they didn't have the cash on hand to meet this demand. The line was:

I can assure you, my friends, that it is safer to keep your money in a reopened bank than it is to keep it under the mattress.

In light of the current crisis, it's interesting to read what a great President can do to help the nation. The speech is #31 in the attached list.

<http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrfirstfiresidechat.html>

[Barack_America]

4. I think it says that people have no idea what this "bailout" means.

They seem to believe that it will help the economy, but they're uncertain whether the terms are acceptable.

Considering nobody has described what the terms are, that's hardly surprising.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

5. FDR 2: Wall Street Boogaloo

[Barack_America]

2. See, normally you would have a President who explains to the people what the bailout is...

And why he thinks that it's the right course of action. (considering it is his administration who introduced it)

But we don't have a President willing to do that.

In fact, we don't seem to have a President at all.

[dkf]

7. Republicans are very bad at explanations.

They are good at basing their arguments on "trust me because I say so".

[Barack_America]

9. Except they don't even trust themselves anymore.

Let us not forget that it was Republicans who sank a Republican bill.

This is one of the most fucked up situations I've ever seen in politics. We truly have become a "banana republic with nukes" as Krugman suggested.

[Thrill]

6. It will be easy to pass it now. Because people running for reelection are getting the Poll numbers

they like

[GetTheRightVote]

10. Put Americans back to work with good wages so that we can pay our bills once again.

Don't hold down our wages or deceive us in credit practices, take our jobs from us. Why are these issues not being discussed behind the failure of our financial system ? and there is no way we should foot the bill for the Fat Cats in the wealthy class which has not been paying taxes for years now. This Bailout is a sell out of the working class in this nation only to protect those living in mansions.

:grr:

[uponit7771]

12. RIGHT! Our savings rate has been at 0% for the last 2 years

[dkf]

15. We need to put out the fire first, then find out who did it.

and make sure they can't do it ever again.

[Barack_America]

18. Um, that's not going to happen when the economy is in free fall.

Frozen credit means more job losses, not fewer.

[uponit7771]

11. But congress can adjourn for 2 days since situation is so "dire", BS! This looks like another IWR

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

13. Our leaders are cowards who cannot even anticipate obvious public reaction

Anyone representative who gives weight to emails and phone calls is not fit to represent anyone.

You work for your entire constituency, not for a squeaky wheel sub-set of that constituency.

It was obvious from the few non-push polls where the public would end up on this. People like to bitch but that doesn't mean people actually wanted congress to reject the thing! People wanted congress to do it, and also wanted to bitch about it.

That's basic electorate behavior.

[maseman]

14. I don't understand

I thought that Americans were against this bailout. Did the 777 point DOW drop and 200 point Nasdaq drop scare the shit out of people? Maybe they checked their portfolio online last night after the bad day and saw 5% - 10% of their retirement funds GO AWAY.