WASHINGTON — Most Americans don't believe the government has responsibility for bailing out financial firms with taxpayer money, a core part of the rescue plan Congress is considering to halt the near-meltdown of the nation's financial markets, a Times/Bloomberg poll has found.
Reluctance to use public money to rescue private firms runs across the population, the poll found: Democrats and Republicans, high-income and low-income families alike.
Asked whether the government should use taxpayer dollars to rescue financial firms whose collapse could have adverse effects on the economy, 55% of the poll's respondents said they did not believe the government should be responsible for funding a bailout plan.
However, opinions about the bailout plan appear to be malleable, perhaps because voters are still learning about the proposal. When some of those who opposed a bailout were interviewed, several said they would reluctantly accept a bailout plan if Congress decided one was necessary.
"It sticks in my craw," said Camille Woyak, 82, a retired office worker in Appleton, Wis., who said she opposed a bailout. "There should be some other solution. But I think the taxpayers are going to have to cover it. I don't know any other way out.
"I lived through the Depression as a little girl," she added. "I don't want to go through that again."
Other polls have found that voters want the government to do something to prevent a financial collapse, even though they don't like the idea of footing the bill. A poll released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, for example, found that 57% of respondents think the government is doing the right thing by intervening to stabilize the economy.
The contrast between the Times/Bloomberg poll and the Pew survey probably reflects the different wording of their questions.
The Times/Bloomberg poll asked respondents whether they believed it was "the government's responsibility to bail out private companies with taxpayers' dollars." A majority said no.
The Pew poll, by contrast, asked respondents if "investing billions to try to keep financial institutions and markets secure" was the right thing to do. A majority said yes.
"These were two different questions," explained Susan Pinkus, director of the Times Poll. "One asked whether the bailout was the right thing to do. The other asked if it was the government's responsibility."
