44% Less Likely To Buy GM Because of Bailout
A sizable number of Americans remain less likely to buy a General Motors car because of the company’s government bailout. One-in-four says anti-buyout sentiment has kept them or someone they know from buying a GM vehicle.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 44% of American Adults say they are less likely to buy a GM car because the company received a taxpayer bailout and then was taken over by the federal government. Still, that’s down 10 points from 54% last September. Only eight percent (8%) say they are more likely to buy GM because of the bailout, while 45% say it has no impact on their buying decisions. (To see survey question wording, click here).
By contrast, 45% say they are more likely to buy a Ford because the company did not take any bailout funding from the government, down from 55% in the earlier survey. Ten percent (10%) say they are less likely to do so, and 41% say that decision has no impact on what car they will buy.
Twenty-three percent (23%) of adults say they or someone they know avoided buying a GM car because of the bailout and government takeover, down only slightly from 27% in the previous survey. Fifty-five percent (55%) say the bailout has not prevented them or someone they know from buying a GM car, but another 22% are not sure.
On the other hand, 17% say they or someone they know bought a Ford car because of the company’s decision not to take a bailout, essentially unchanged from September, but 67% say that has not been the case. Sixteen percent (16%) aren’t sure.
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The national survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on February 11-12, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
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