The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 42% of Americans think that a Yahoo merger will have little impact on Internet users. Twenty-one percent (21%) say such a merger would be bad for Internet users while 16% say it would be good news.

Two months ago, 30% believed a Yahoo-Microsoft merger would be good for Internet users, 18% disagreed and 51% weren’t sure.

Overall, 44% have been following Yahoo merger stories at least somewhat closely. Thirty-five percent (35%) haven’t been following the story very closely, while 18% haven’t been following it at all. Men follow the story more closely than women.

Yahoo is viewed favorably by 61% of adults. That’s down slightly from February when 65% held a favorable opinion of the company. Today, 19% have an unfavorable opinion of the search engine.

Its competitor and merger prospect Google receives a slightly higher favorable rating. Seventy percent (70%) have a very favorable or somewhat favorable opinion of Google, while only 14% offer negative reviews. Those under 40 hold a more favorable opinion towards the new media giant than their elders.

AOL, on the other hand, is disliked by many. The company grabs a favorable rating from 32% of adults and an unfavorable rating from 49% of adults.

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