Bailout Support Declines. Pew Research Center survey conducted Sept. 27-29

[chill_wind]

September 30, 2008

Small Plurality Backs Bailout Plan
Support Declines as Anger Runs High


As Congress debated the financial bailout bill over the past week, public support for government action has declined. A new Pew Research Center survey conducted Sept. 27-29 finds a narrow 45%-38% plurality of the public saying that a government plan to invest or commit billions of dollars to secure financial institutions is the right thing to do. This represents considerably less support than the plan engendered immediately after it was first proposed. A Pew survey conducted Sept. 19-22 had found a wide majority of the public favoring government action (57% right thing, 30% wrong thing).

The public is expressing both fear and loathing about the idea of the government committing billions of dollars to solve the problem. Six-in-ten Americans (61%) say that they feel angry about the government’s plan, and half (50%) also admit they are scared. Many report being confused (43%), but relatively few (29%) describe themselves as optimistic.

Anger about the rescue plan crosses party lines, and Republicans, Democrats and independents all offer less support for the idea now than they did at the outset. Among Republicans there has been a 15-point decline – from 64% to 49% – in the share saying the bailout is the right thing to do. Support among Democrats has fallen 10 points from 56% to 46%. As a consequence, while Republicans were slightly more supportive initially, support for the plan is now about the same among Republicans, Democrats and independents.

The new Pew Research Center survey, conducted among 1,505 adults reached over both landline phones and cell phones, finds Democrats expressing more concern than Republicans about several aspects of the current financial situation. The public’s top worry about the current situation is that “those who are responsible for causing the crisis will be let off the hook.” Nearly three-quarters of Americans (72%) say they are very concerned about this, including 77% of Democrats, 69% of Republicans and 69% of independents. More than six-in-ten (63%) say they are very concerned that “the government’s actions won’t fix the things that caused this problem in the first place.” This, too, is of greater worry to Democrats and independents than to Republicans.

much more:

http://people-press.org/

http://people-press.org/report/455/bailout-plan

[chill_wind]

1. House of Reps Website-- "Massive Busy Digital Signal"

House of Representatives' Web site overwhelmed

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/30/congress.website/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

"As more people gained access to the page and details of the bailout proposal were published in the news media, constituents then started to e-mail their representatives, Ventura explained.

"We know it's in the millions," he said of the number of e-mails that lawmakers in the House have been receiving. "But we haven't counted yet, because when you're about to get hit by a tidal wave, you don't count the drops of water in the wave."

After the House failed to pass the proposed deal Monday by a vote of 228-205, the e-mail volume surged again, Ventura said.

"Because there were so many e-mails, it was impacting even the presentation of House.gov," he explained.

"This morning, our engineers sounded the alarms ... and we have installed a digital version of a traffic cop. We enacted stopgaps that we planned for last night. We had hoped we didn't have to."