A new multinational Financial Times/Harris Poll finds that most Americans and Europeans in most of the five largest European countries are opposed to their governments using their taxpayers’ money to bail out banks, insurance companies and car manufacturers. However, majorities in the United States (51%), Britain (56%), France (65%), and Germany (55%) support government bailouts of the construction industry.

These are some of the results of a new Financial Times/Harris Poll conducted online by Harris Interactive® among a total of 6,538 adults (aged 16-64) within France, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, and the United States and adults (aged 18-64) in Italy between February 25 and March 3, 2009.

Bailout of Construction Industry

While majorities in the United States and the three largest European countries favor government bailouts of the construction industry, a slender majority in Italy (52%) and a larger majority in Spain (68%) oppose the idea.

Banks

Americans oppose a government bailout of banks by an almost two-to-one majority (65% to 35%). Larger majorities oppose bank bailouts in France (77%), Italy (74%), Spain (79%) and Germany (76%). In Britain, 64% oppose bailing out banks.

Insurance

Opposition to bailing out insurance companies is even stronger. The majorities opposed to this vary from 77% in the United States (where the government has already bailed out the insurance giant AIG) to 80% in Britain, 86% in France, 88% in Italy, 82% in Spain and 84% in Germany.

Car Manufacturers

Substantial majorities in all six countries also oppose bailing out their automobile industries. Those opposing government bailouts are highest in the United States (69%) and lowest in France (58%) and Germany (57%).

So What?

Whatever their governments and political leaders may believe and say, the general public in the United States and the largest European countries seems to believe that letting large banks, insurers and car manufacturers go bankrupt is better than using public funds to prop them up.

However, it is striking that the public is much more supportive of using taxpayers’ money to support the construction industry. This difference may reflect public hostility to very large companies (“big business”) that are household names in three industries and the relatively smaller companies in the construction industry. It may reflect support for more spending on infrastructure in order to stimulate the economy. Or it may be that many people are angry about the failures of the banking, insurance and automobile industries and not angry about the construction industry.

Methodology

This FT/Harris Poll was conducted online by Harris Interactive among a total of 6,538 adults (aged 16-64) within France (1,067), Germany (1,060), Great Britain (1,226), Spain (1,098) and the United States (1,057), and adults (aged 18-64) in Italy (1,030) between 25 February and 3 March 2009. Figures for age, sex, education, region and Internet usage were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online. Full data tables and methodology are available at www.harrisinteractive.com.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls and of the British Polling Council.

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About Harris Interactive

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Posted: 03|18|09 at 10:55 am. Filed under: Finance News.