Poll: People See Economic Response Helping Banks, Companies, The Rich

Going along with President Obama's sliding approval rating--now averaging 48.2 percent, according to Pollster.com--is a sense that the administration's response to the economic crisis benefited everyone else but the little guy. In the latest Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor poll, 40 percent of respondents said banks and investment companies benefited most from the government's response to the economic crisis, 20 percent said major corporations, 16 percent said wealthy individuals, 9 percent said middle-class individuals, 8 percent said low-income individuals, and 7 percent either said "no one," didn't know, or refused to say.

Lumping categories together, only 17 percent of respondents said low- and middle-income Americans benefited most, while 76 percent said it was banks, investment companies, major corporations, and wealthy individuals. In other words, don't expect much criticism of the administration's new $90 billion tax on bailed-out banks.