According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll conducted before a key vote in the Senate last Thursday, 61 percent of Americans are opposed to any more government bailouts.

“One reason for the opposition to more money being spent may be that more than eight in 10 said that the first $350 billion of taxpayer money for the bailout didn’t work,” said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “Only 14% say that the money accomplished what it was supposed to do.”

Yet, the U.S. Senate did approve the release of the remaining half of the Troubled Asset Relief Program  (TARP) bailout funds Thursday by a 52-42 vote.

“Barack Obama may have something to do with the vote,” said Holland. “Democratic leaders in the Senate may not have been eager for a showdown with the president-elect. The public would have been squarely on Obama’s side. Sixty-two percent in the poll say they trust Obama more than Democratic Congressional leaders.”

In fact, the president-elect did make several promises about the way the money would be used, stating, “My pledge is to change the way this plan is implemented and keep faith with the American taxpayer by placing strict conditions on CEO pay and providing more loans to small businesses.”

His senior economic advisor, Lawrence Summers, also outlined the Obama spending plan in two letters sent to the Senate this week. As much as $100 billion will be used to help individual homeowners stay out of foreclosure, a plan feature many on Capitol Hill had called for from the beginning of the mortgage bailout legislation process. The other funds may be used to finance a Bank of America Corp buyout of Merill Lynch & Co, support other failing lenders and possibly even automakers.

“If the president-elect concludes that a substantial new commitment of funds is necessary to forestall a serious economic dislocation,”Summers said in a letter, “he will certify that decision to Congress before any final action is taken.”