17% Favor Government Regulation of All Executive Pay
Shareholders last week rejected the compensation package proposed for top executives at Citigroup, the first action of its kind against those who run a major U.S. bank. Americans believe that executives at most major companies are paid too much, but few think the government should regulate CEO compensation. However, there is an exception; Nearly half support continued government regulation of executive compensation at companies that were bailed out. That’s true even if the company paid the money back.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 69% of American Adults believe, generally speaking, that the level of pay and bonuses for executives at most major companies in the United States is too high. Just five percent (5%) believe that compensation is too low, while 20% feel that it’s about right. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
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The national survey of 1,000 American Adults was conducted on April 19-20 2012 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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