Poll Tracker

Mirroring the results of a Gallup poll earlier this week, a survey by the Pew Research Center conducted Nov. 14-17 finds Americans about evenly divided on whether they think the $700 billion government bailout plan for financial institutions was the right or wrong thing to do.

Forty-three percent said it was the wrong thing compared to 40 percent who supported it. But that's a turnaround from mid-October when those polled said it was the right thing by 47 percent to 37 percent and perhaps reflects the fact that the stock market continued to nosedive in that period and most economic indicators remained relentlessly negative. Gallup's survey had respondents saying the rescue was a good thing by a bare 47 percent to 45 percent, but that too reflected a loss of support from an early October poll when it was 50 percent to 41 percent.

In the Pew survey, Republicans by far took the dimmest view of the bailout. In October, they were roughly divided at 44 percent to 42 percent in favor, but in the new poll they called it the wrong thing to do by 53 percent to 33 percent. Democrats remained about the same in support of the plan at 52 percent to 32 percent, and independents became somewhat more negative going from a small plurality in mid-October that supported it, to a 46 percent to 37 percent margin of those who now think it was the wrong course.

Half of voters described themselves as angry about what they are hearing about the economy, 57 percent are scared, 63 percent are confused, 65 percent are depressed and, despite all that, 69 percent are optimistic.