Half of Americans Support Government Bailouts of Banks

Washington, DC, March 15, 2023– The latest Reuters/Ipsos survey shows just about half of Americans support bank bailouts in the wake of two bank failures in the United States. Most Americans are confident in their individual banking institutions and the safety of their individual deposits at their bank. 

Detailed Findings

Half of Americans are in favor of government bailouts of U.S. financial institutions (49%), this is up 12 points from a 2012 Reuters/Ipsos survey (37%). Republicans' perceptions have softened on the issue, with support increasing 20 points in the last decade (20% in 2012 and 40% today), while Democrats' views remain largely unchanged (53% in 2012 and 55% today).  However, 84% of Americans agree - 56% agree strongly - that taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for irresponsible bank management, including 85% of Democrats and 86% of Republicans. 

Four in five Americans have a fair amount or a great deal of confidence in the stability of their bank (78%) and the safety of their deposits at their bank (79%). Americans are supportive of the U.S. government guaranteeing individuals' deposits at a bank that fails (78%), but Democrats are more likely to be favor (85%) than Republicans (73%). When it comes to guaranteeing businesses' deposits, large majorities are in favor (70%), but Republicans and independents are less likely to support guaranteeing business deposits (63% of Republicans and 66% of independents) than individual deposits (73% of Republicans and 79% of independents). Eighty-one percent of Democrats are in favor of guaranteeing businesses' deposits.

About the Study

These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between March 14-15, 2023 on behalf of Thomson Reuters. For this survey, a sample of 1,004 adults age 18+ from the continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii was interviewed online in English. The sample includes 453 Democrats, 399 Republican and 106 independents.

The sample was randomly drawn from Ipsos’ online panel, partner online panel sources, and “river” sampling and does not rely on a population frame in the traditional sense. Ipsos uses fixed sample targets, unique to each study, in drawing a sample. After a sample has been obtained from the Ipsos panel, Ipsos calibrates respondent characteristics to be representative of the U.S. Population using standard procedures such as raking-ratio adjustments. The source of these population targets is U.S. Census 2022 American Community Survey data. The sample drawn for this study reflects fixed sample targets on demographics. Posthoc weights were made to the population characteristics on gender, age, race/ethnicity, region, and education.

Statistical margins of error are not applicable to online non-probability polls. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including but not limited to coverage error and measurement error. Where figures do not sum to 100, this is due to the effects of rounding. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points for all respondents. Ipsos calculates a design effect (DEFF) for each study based on the variation of the weights, following the formula of Kish (1965). This study had a credibility interval adjusted for design effect of the following (n=1,005, DEFF=1.5, adjusted Confidence Interval=+/-5.3 percentage points).

The poll also has a credibility interval of plus or minus 5.6 percentage points for Democrats, plus or minus 6.0 percentage points for Republicans, and plus or minus 11.7 percentage points for independents.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris Jackson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

Annaleise Lohr
Director, US
Public Affairs
[email protected]

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