USANews版 - Majority of Voters Oppose Federal Bailouts for States |
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l****z 发帖数: 29846 | 1 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.
A sizable majority (78%) of all Americans say their states are now having
major budget problems, and they think spending cuts, not higher taxes, are
the solution. But most expect their taxes to be raised in the next year
anyway.
States are currently not allowed by law to file for bankruptcy, but former
House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others have argued that bankruptcy might be
the least painful alternative for taxpayers in heavily debt-ridden states
like California, Illinois and New York. Voters aren't thrilled with the idea
of letting states file for bankruptcy, but they like it better than higher
taxes. They're more supportive if told government employees might have their
pensions reduced in the process.
Younger voters are more supportive of state bailouts than their elders.
African-Americans like the idea much more than whites and voters of other
races. Middle-income voters express stronger opposition than those who make
more and less they they do.
A slight plurality (42%) of Political Class voters agrees with providing
bailout money to states, but most Mainstream voters (63%) are against it.
Most voters blame state budget problems on politicians’ unwillingness to
cut spending rather than voters’ unwillingness to pay more in taxes.
Many states are finding unfunded or underfunded pension benefits for public
workers to be one of their biggest deficit problems. Americans appear to be
increasingly skeptical about public workers as the budget situation worsens
both nationally and at the state level. Adults are now evenly divided on the
idea of a sizable pay cut for all public employees to help reduce the large
budget deficits that many states are facing. |
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