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Yes.

According to an April Gallup poll, 48% of U.S. adults are concerned about having their money in banks or other U.S. financial institutions, including 19% who are “very” worried and 29% who are “moderately” worried. Conversely, 30% are “not too worried” and 20% are “not worried at all.”

These results are similar to Gallup’s last poll on the topic in 2008. That September, shortly after the largest bank collapse in U.S. history, 45% of Americans reported being very or moderately concerned about the safety of their money in banks or other financial institutions. 

The 2023 Gallup poll was conducted in the aftermath of the Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank closures, which have reignited concerns about government bailouts for banks that are “too big to fail.” A New York Times analysis found the inflation-adjusted assets of the three banks that failed in 2023 exceeded the 25 banks that collapsed in 2008. 

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Sources

Gallup About Half in U.S. Worry About Their Money’s Safety in Banks

Congressional Research Service Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank Failures

New York Times 3 Failed Banks This Year Were Bigger Than 25 That Crumbled in 2008

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Erin Gretzinger / Wisconsin WatchReporting Intern

Erin Gretzinger joined Wisconsin Watch as a reporting intern in May 2022. She is a journalism and French major at UW-Madison and will graduate in spring 2023. Erin previously worked for the Wisconsin State Journal as a reporting intern and served as the 2021-22 editor-in-chief at The Badger Herald. She is a recipient of the Jon Wolman Scholarship, the Sigrid Schultz Scholarship and the Joseph Sicherman Award Fund for her academic and reporting work.