Give Poor Marks to Government’s Handling of Financial Market Problems

More than three-quarters of Americans have heard at least a little about the problems in the financial markets involving investment banks but, among this large segment of the public, fully 80% say the government has done only a fair job or a poor job addressing problems in the nation’s financial markets. Awareness of the investment banking issue is nearly universal among those with the highest household incomes; 95% of those from households with incomes of $100,000 or more had heard at least a little about the situation – 70% have heard a lot, 25% a little. Knowledge falls off with income; only 68% of those from households with incomes of less than $30,000 have heard about the investment banking problems, and fewer than one third (32%) have heard a lot. More than eight-in-ten Republicans and the same proportion of Democrats (83%) have heard about the situation, as well as 81% of independents. Of those who have heard about the financial market problems, higher-income groups also are more positive in their judgments of government efforts; still, seven-in-ten of those in households with incomes of $75,000 or more say the government is doing a fair or poor job handling this issue. More than eight-in-ten in each of the lower-income groups say the same. Read More