Nearly seven out of 10 Americans (68%) are confident in the stability of the U.S. banking system, even as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says more banks in this country are likely to fail.

But even as he warned of these possible failures, Paulson on Sunday stressed that America’s banking system is solid.

Twenty-eight percent (28%) of Americans do not share Mr. Paulson’s confidence, however, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, taken Thursday and Friday nights.

Americans respond in similar numbers when asked about the safety of their own money in the bank, with 65% expressing little or no worry of losing it and 30% at least somewhat fearful it may be lost. Eight percent (8%) are Very Worried that their own savings could be lost

Bank of America announced this morning (Monday) that its second-quarter profit fell 41 percent, largely due to the continuing bad housing market, but its results were better than had been expected. Four out of five of the country’s largest banks have now posted second-quarter earnings at levels higher than had been predicted.

While 73% are aware that the federal government insures all bank deposits up to $100,000, nearly as many adults believe that individuals who had money in Indy Mac, the Pasadena, California-based bank recently taken over by regulators, either lost their money (9% of respondents) or weren’t sure (52%).
This confusion parallels another new but separate Rasmussen Reports survey that found only 34% of Americans believe the United States has the world’s best economy. But 50% also think the media makes economic conditions appear worse than they really are.

IndyMac is the fifth bank insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to fail this year and the second-largest financial institution failure in U.S. history. Its failure is expected to cost the government up to $8 billion.

In the new banking survey, 56% say they have been following the IndyMac story.

Democrats are twice as likely (39%) as Republicans (19%) to be worried about the money they have in the bank.

The higher an individual’s annual income, the less likely he or she is to worry about the safety of their money in the bank. Seventy-four percent (74%) of investors are not worried, as opposed to 55% of non-investors.

African-Americans are nearly evenly divided on the safety of their own money, with 43% worried they will lose it and 49% not concerned. Twenty-seven percent (27%) of whites fear their deposits will be lost if their bank fails, but 68% do not share that fear.

Similarly over one-third of blacks (38%) do not have confidence in the U.S. banking system, as opposed to 26% of whites.
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