Icing the Next Meltdown?

With President Obama taking to Wall Street to sell his overhaul of the financial regulatory system, there is little public confidence that the government is enacting measures to lower the odds of another financial crisis, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Overall, 49 percent say they are confident sufficient new means are being put into place, with just one in 10 expressing a lot of faith that this is happening.

Even fewer, though, see major financial institutions themselves as adapting their business practices to make another meltdown less likely (41 percent say they are confident this is going on; 8 percent are "very confident" it is).

Majorities of Democrats are confident in government and business alike, while most Republicans and independents are skeptical on both fronts.

This Washington Post-ABC News poll was conducted Sept. 10-12 among a random national sample of 1,007 adults including users of both conventional and cellular telephones. Margin of sampling error is plus or minus three points.

Q: How confident are you that the federal government is putting measures into place that will make another financial crisis less likely in the future?

             -Confident-   -Not confident--
             NET    Very   NET   Not at all
All          49      10    50        27

Democrat     71      16    28        11
Republican   36      10    63        36
Independent  41       8    58        33

Q: How confident are you that financial institutions will change their business practices in a way that makes another financial crisis less likely in the future?

             -Confident-   -Not confident--
             NET    Very   NET   Not at all
All          41       8    58        30

Democrat     55      15    44        18
Republican   31       1    68        42
Independent  37       6    61        34

By Jennifer Agiesta |  September 14, 2009; 2:00 PM ET Economy , Post Polls
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