New York, Nov. 22: Nearly half of Americans say they are ready to let the Big Three automakers go out of business rather than rescue the sputtering car companies with taxpayer dollars, a new poll shows.

According to the New York Post, voters believe that the Detroit auto industry - which includes GM, Ford and Chrysler - have priced themselves out of the car market with labor contracts that are more expensive than what Japanese and other foreign companies pay workers at American assembly plants.

The loss of confidence in GM and the other big automakers shatters the Detroit-based firm''s once-proud motto that "What''s good for General Motors is good for the country."

The Rasmussen Reports survey found that 48 percent say it''s better for the Big Three to fail rather than give them public subsidies.

Only 35 percent said it''s better to subsidize the firms'' continued existence, and another 17 percent said they were unsure.

The findings show that politicians would face a backlash from crucial swing voters if they throw them a life preserver.

Of those who identify themselves as registered independents, 60 percent said it''s better to let the Big Three go under than bail them out.

That nearly matched 64 percent of Republicans who said good riddance. But half of labor-friendly Democrats said they''d rather prop up the companies than see them go under.

Republican critics of the proposed auto rescue were confident the public was on their side.

It''s estimated that it costs Detroit 2,000 dollars more to manufacture a car than Honda or Toyota, for example. (ANI)