Gallup: Government Has Mandate To Stop The AIG Bonuses

Gallup has a one-nighter out (3/17, MoE +/-3, no trends) that says:

The fact that a majority of Americans, including Republicans and Democrats, are "outraged" about the AIG bonuses and want the government to take action to get the money back provides a strong mandate for lawmakers trying to resolve the issue. While Congress weighs the legal options available, including a bill that would impose a 70% tax on "excessive" compensation paid to employees of bailed-out companies, they can do so knowing the American people are eager for them to do something.

The numbers (dark green is "recover the money", light green is "outraged", click for bigger picture):

That's a decent amount of outrage. In fact, 59% of respondents are outraged about the bonuses, 26% are merely bothered, 11% not so much, and there's no accounting for the rest. Therefore

Three in four Americans (76%) want the government to take actions to block or recover the bonuses insurance giant AIG paid its executives after receiving federal bailout funds.

Click for bigger picture:

And since it cuts across partisan and party lines, you'll see a lot more of what you've seen the last few days, whether it's sound policy and solid law or not.