Faith in home values persists

"TV and magazines make the good life look wonderful," said Poulnot, 49. "If you didn't get raised properly, it's easy to fall prey to wanting more than you can afford."

Not him, though.

"I drive a 5-year-old Chevy Tahoe, my wife drives a 6-year-old Ford Expedition, and if my son goes to Virginia Tech he's going to have to pay for half of it," Poulnot said. "But I'm not going to blame George Bush. I think he's doing a pretty good job."

Poulnot was in the minority on that as well: 57% of the respondents said they disapproved of President Bush's handling of the economy. Yet Poulnot said he didn't see home prices coming down or even flattening. Instead, he predicted a "normal" rate of increase.

The fate of the broader home market is linked to that of borrowers who bought or refinanced their homes with sub-prime loans because they couldn't qualify for cheaper prime loans.

By some estimates, more than 2 million of such borrowers are at risk of foreclosure because they may be unable to make their payments as their loans adjust to higher rates.

On Capitol Hill, there's a continuing discussion about how -- and whether -- to help those facing foreclosure. Congress' Joint Economic Committee plans to release a report today titled "Sheltering Neighborhoods from the Subprime Foreclosure Storm." According to the panel, the report argues that "foreclosure prevention is cost-effective" for stricken communities.

If the congressional panel is sympathetic to distressed borrowers, the views of poll respondents are more mixed.

Lenders, who profited handsomely by giving loans to just about anyone regardless of whether they qualified by traditional standards, got 39% of the blame for borrowers' going into default on sub-prime loans.

Government regulators, who have been criticized for failing to crack down on risky loan practices, were deemed responsible by 20% of those polled.

The borrowers landed in the middle of the blame hierarchy, with 28% of those polled saying people should have known better than to take out loans they would have trouble paying.

Marvin Carter, who farms soybeans and corn in Carrollton, Ill., said he didn't understand how someone could buy a home without putting any money down. "When I buy a tractor, they always want 20%, and I still have a hard time," said Carter, 80.

His notion for who was at fault was volunteered by 9% of poll respondents: "I blame a little bit of everybody."