Although General Motors (GM) and Chrysler garnered early support from the U.S. population for their federally funded bailout plans, support is starting to drop off as the situation is proving more of a bottomless pit rather than a hopeful turnaround.
When the notion of a publicly funded bailout plan was being thrown around for the two Michigan automakers back in December, 61 percent of the U.S. supported such a plan. However, as more light has been shed on automakers’ precarious positions – and $13.4 billion has already been dished out — only 25 percent of Americans now support throwing additional tax dollars at GM and Chrysler, according to the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll.
“The more people understand what’s wrong with General Motors, the less willing they are to support it,” Porter Stansberry, head of Stansberry & Associates Investment Research, told USA Today.
In addition, only 51 percent of Americans think all three U.S. automakers will survive, down from 57 percent in December and after GM’s recent announcement of their US$30 billion loss in 2008, there is good reason to think those figures could sink even lower.
