About half of Americans say borrowers snared in the subprime mortgage mess brought the trouble onto themselves, but they nevertheless deserve "special treatment," CNNMoney reports. In a poll of 1,002 adults, 51% also said they felt sorry for borrowers, with 46% blaming financial institutions' lending policies for the situation.
When it came to sympathy for lenders, however, 72% of Americans said they would oppose any help for financial institutions. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The Bush administration said Dec. 6 it wants lenders to freeze some 1.2 million teaser-rate mortgages that will reset to higher rates. (More subprime mortgages stories.)