TomWilkinsonatGM

Public opposes auto bailout by 60 percent in CNN poll I?ve seen the results of the CNN poll, and I wanted to point out some of the areas where it conflicts with existing polling. According to the headlines, 60% of respondents oppose federal bridge loans to automakers. However, the CNN poll also shows that the American public is deeply fearful of the ramifications of a domestic-industry failure. According to a poll done by Peter D. Hart, 90% fear the harm a collapse would do to the manufacturing sector, 84% think it would harm the economy, 70% fear that a collapse would decrease our standing in the world, and 6% worry about a lack of competition among existing automakers should the Big 3 fail. 15% of the American public ? 18 million households ? told pollsters that a collapse would immediately affect their families, with a 77% expecting their family to be affected sometime in the future. Keep in mind it is very hard to get meaningful poll results for issues that people don?t really understand. The recent study by the Center for Automotive Research (cargroup.org) make it clear that the sudden failure of one or more domestic carmakers would be catastrophic for the U.S. economy. Congress and industry analysts all agree on this. Right now, that is what matters most.