A new round of opinion polls give a shocking result: People don’t like AIG’s executive decisions.
In the CBS poll, 50% said they were “angry” about the bonus payments, 38% said they were “bothered,” and only 12% said they weren’t bothered. As for the firm’s official position that they had to pay the bonuses, only 13% bought that story, with 83% saying the company could have found a way out of it. On whether the money should be recovered, 77% want the government to try to get it back, with only 20% against it.
The Gallup poll finds similar numbers: Only 12% are satisfied with the performance of AIG management, and 80% are dissatisfied. When given options of how to get the money back, only 12% say it shouldn’t be recovered, while 27% favor asking for it voluntarily, 25% favor a heavy tax, and 26% are for launching legal actions or making the return of the money a condition of any new federal payouts.
