Vote for Bailouts Could Hurt Potential GOP Presidential Candidates

It’s been three long years since the Bush Administration told voters that the government needed $700 billion right away to avoid a financial industry meltdown. That legislation, known in the political world as TARP, remains very unpopular with voters nationwide and is a potentially potent factor in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

If Republican Primary voters agreed with a candidate on most issues but learned that the candidate had voted for the bailouts, just 37% would still consider voting for that person. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of 1,000 Likely GOP Primary Voters found that 36% would vote against and 28% are not sure. And, again, those are the numbers if they agreed with the candidate on a number of other issues and were considering supporting that candidate.  (To see survey question wording, click here.)
 

Many Republicans are hoping that Congressman Paul Ryan will enter the competition for the GOP Presidential nomination, but he voted for the bailouts. Other Members of Congress in the race, Michelle Bachmann and Thaddeus McCotter, voted against.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely GOP Primary Voters was conducted on July 28, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. Likely GOP Primary Voters include both Republicans and unaffiliated voters likely to vote in a GOP Primary. 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.