More on government ownership

There have been a number of survey questions on government ownership of industry, mostly in the late 1940s.  Most of them were just asked once, or a few times over a short period of time, but there is a pretty good series on the electric power industry.  The results are given below--in all cases, the figures are the percent favoring government ownership, the percent opposed, and the percent undecided.  Despite variation in question wording, it's pretty clear that there has been a decline in support for government ownership, and that most of it occurred in the few years after 1945. 

Do you think the government should own the electric companies? (Gallup, August 1940)

32-49-20

Do you think the government should own the following things in this country:... electric power companies? (Gallup, September 1945)

38-39-23

(What do you think about the government ownership and operation of the following kinds of business?)... Are you for or against government ownership of the electric power companies? (Opinion Research Corporation, June 1946)

34-58-8

Do you think the United States government should own the following things in this country:... electric power companies? (Gallup, January 1947)

28-64-8

Do you think the U. S. (United States) government should or should not own the following things in this country? … Electric power companies (Gallup, May 1948)

20-69-10

Do you think the U. S. (United States) government should or should not own the following things in this country:... Electric power companies (Gallup, Dec 1948)

23-63-14

Do you think the United States government should or should not own the following things in this country? The electric power companies (Gallup, Sept 1953)

18-69-12

(What do you think about the government ownership and operation of the following kinds of business?)...How about electric power companies? (Opinion Research Corporation, March 1955)

25-68-7

Do you think each of the following should mainly be run by private organizations or companies, or by the government?... Electric power (General Social Survey, Feb 1996)

18-72-10