Majority of Voters Oppose Federal Bailouts for States
While a number of states now face serious budget shortfalls, most voters continue to oppose federal bailout funding to help them out.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 26% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the federal government should provide bailout funding for states with serious financial problems. Fifty-three percent (53%) oppose individual state bailouts, and another 21% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Sixty-two percent (62%) opposed bailouts for states in July 2009 when California's severe budget woes were in the headlines, but opposition had fallen to 48% by October of last year.
Republicans (67%) and voters not affiliated with either of the major parties (66%) strongly oppose state bailouts, while Democrats by a 44% to 28% margin think they're a good idea.
Voters have consistently expressed opposition to bailouts of any kind. Fifty-three percent (53%) say, looking back, that the bailouts of banks, auto companies and insurance companies were bad for the United States.
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on January 21-22, 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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