Even Times/Bloomberg poll respondents who supported a bailout often added that they weren't happy about the idea.
"Normally, I'd like to keep government out of the economy as much as we can," said Morris Vermeulen, 73, a retired housing inspector in Rogers, Ark. "But somebody's got to do something. We can't have a complete financial collapse."
Still, Vermeulen added, he hoped Congress could find a way to penalize the Wall Street financial houses for forcing taxpayers to come to their aid. "We should draw a little blood from them," he said cheerfully.
That mix of sentiments is one factor that has caused some Democrats and Republicans in Congress to balk at the Bush administration's bailout plan. Democrats have demanded new aid for distressed homeowners and limits on the pay of top executives whose firms get help. Some conservative Republicans have said the plan is an unwarranted use of taxpayer money to intervene in the private markets.
In the Times/Bloomberg poll, a solid majority, 62%, said they believed that insufficient government regulation was partly responsible for the financial crisis.
As to where the blame should go, respondents were divided: 32% blamed Wall Street financial institutions, and 26% blamed the Bush administration. (Democrats tended to blame the White House; Republicans tended to blame Wall Street.)
Most also oppose federal loans to help ailing automakers -- another proposal Congress is considering -- the poll found. Among all respondents, 64% said they opposed government loans to automotive firms, and only 25% were in favor.
The financial crisis has helped push public gloom to a record depth: 79% of adults said they thought the country was "on the wrong track," the highest rate ever in a Times poll.
Asked whether the country was "generally going in the right direction" or "on the wrong track," 79% said "wrong track" and only 13% said "right direction." That exceeded the previous record of 78% who said "wrong track" in June.
When asked whether they felt the nation's economy was doing well or badly, 81% said the economy was doing badly, an increase from the 76% recorded in August -- and close to the record high of 82% recorded in June, when energy prices were soaring.
The nation's focus on the faltering economy appeared to bolster Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, seen by most voters as a better economic leader than Republican John McCain.
