Confidence in S&Ls; Down Sharply, Poll Finds
The American public’s confidence in the savings and loan industry has eroded sharply in recent months, and while only a handful say they have been directly affected by the S&L; crisis, most believe that higher taxes are inevitable to pay for the industry’s cleanup, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Only 27% of those interviewed said they had a great deal or a good amount of confidence in the savings and loan industry--down from 44% in March, 1989. At the same time, those expressing little or no confidence in the industry increased from 56% to 72%.
To measure public attitudes toward the savings and loan crisis, the Post and ABC questioned 1,509 randomly selected adults between July 19 and 24. Margin of sampling error for the overall results is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The public voiced more concern than in the earlier poll about the ability of the federal insurance system, which insures deposits to $100,000, to pay people who lost their savings when their thrift fails.
Only 47% said they were confident that the government would have the money to cover depositors’ losses, compared to 63% in a poll done in March, 1989. And 52% of those recently questioned expressed little faith that depositors would get their money back, up from 35% in the March survey.
Nor is the public confident that the government will bring to justice S&L; executives whose fraudulent business practices contributed to the crisis.
The survey also found that the involvement of Neil Bush, the President’s son, in a failed Denver savings and loan has not significantly tarnished the Bush Administration at this point.
Nearly nine out of 10 predicted that the government will fail to win convictions on most of the few cases that are brought to trial. And 58% said “hardly any” of those convicted will go to jail, even though more than nine out of 10 said savings and loan executives found guilty of fraud should spend time in jail.
Eight out of 10 people questioned said the mounting cost of the bailout will require a tax increase--a prospect that seven out of 10 acknowledged bothered them “a lot.”
The depth of the public’s anger suggests rough times ahead for President Bush and congressional incumbents, though the political implications of the scandal are anything but clear.
Fewer than half--45%--said Bush is doing all he can to solve the savings and loan crisis, and 58% expressed disapproval about the way his Administration has handled the situation.
The public is even more critical of Congress. Six out of 10 said Congress wasn’t doing as much as it should. Two out of three said the savings and loan industry wasn’t doing as much as it could.
