As the President, the Treasury Secretary, the junior Senator from Illinois, and nearly every Democrat try desperately to convince the American people of the wisdom of their bailout plan, the American people are growing less enthusiastic about it (Rasmussen via Below the Beltway):
A sizable majority (63%), in fact, are worried that the federal government will do too much to respond to the current woes. The survey was taken Wednesday night, even as President Bush was making a nationally televised address urging Congress to pass the $700-billion taxpayer-backed bailout plan proposed by his administration.
A week ago, just 49% were worried the government would do too much.
Just 25% now fear the federal government will not do enough. That figure is down from 36% last week.
For the powers that be, those numbers are going the wrong way.
Meanwhile, opposition to the bailout itself hit the Estrich line:
Half of voters (50%) say it’s better for the government to let the companies that made financial mistakes go bankrupt.
Among investors, of course, opposition to the bailout is – whoops! It’s higher:
Fifty-one percent (51%) of investors also think the government should let troubled companies go bankrupt versus 29% who support government intervention in the financial markets. Two-thirds of investors (66%) worry the government will do too much.
OK, so the difference is statistically meaningless, but who would have expected investors to even be remotely as hostile to the bailout as ordinary voters, let alone possibly more hostile.
If McCain and the House Republicans play their cards right (and that’s one titanic “if”), they could completely reshape the political climate.
