Two-Thirds Oppose Further Automaker Support

Almost two-thirds of Americans oppose giving Chrysler and General Motors (GM) more money to aid restructuring efforts, a new independent poll found Wednesday.

64 percent of likely voters oppose providing additional loans to the companies at taxpayer expense, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll released Wednesday. 24 percent favor providing the loans, which were requested by the companies in filings with the Treasury Department yesterday.

Chrysler is seeking to receive $2 billion in addition to $3 billion allotted by lawmakers to aid the company, but that hasn’t yet been paid out. GM is hoping to receive as much as $30 billion in total taxpayer assistance by the time it completes its restructuring.

The poll indicates tough political choices on the horizon for the Obama administration and members of Congress as they face a decision between letting the companies fail and futher supporting the struggling automakers.

57 percent of those surveyed indicated they thought it was either somewhat or very unlikely the companies would repay their loans to the government. According to yesterday’s filings, Chrysler hopes to have repaid the loans by 2012, while GM set 2017 as its target date to have completed repayment.

A 44 percent plurality said that it would be best to let companies like GM fail, though a whopping 71 percent said the companies would not be run better under the control of the federal government.

The poll, conducted February 16-17, has a three percent margin of error.