Interesting results in a recent National Journal poll getting attention elsewhere for different reasons.
In question 22, 1,200 American adults were asked the following:
Thinking back over all the actions the federal government has taken to respond to the financial crisis over the last 12 months, who do you think has benefited most from these policies?
The results are surprisingly far worse than even I expected:
Beneficiaries of Federal Government Actions
Banks and investment companies - 40%
Major corporations - 20%
Wealthy individuals - 16%
Middle class individuals - 9%
Low-income individuals - 8%
No one - 2%
Don’t Know - 4%
Refused - 1%
That's right. 76% think that government actions in the face of the financial meltdown have been on behalf of the plutocrats, and only 17% on middle- and low-income Americans.
That's a -59 for regular people. Delivered by Obama's crack Finance team of Geithner, Summers and Bernanke.
If the import of this isn't obvious, it should be. If people are still suffering economic hardship at election time, in 2010, and 2012, people will remember who was looking out for the plutocrats this time around.
And for once, it wasn't the GOP.