June 18 (Bloomberg) -- The government’s bailouts of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC are unpopular among large numbers of Americans, and that is helping to drag down President Barack Obama’s approval ratings, according to three new polls.

A survey published today by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that the percentage of respondents approving of the way Obama is handling the economy dropped to 52 percent from 60 percent in April. Fifty-eight percent said they opposed spending billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to keep the automakers afloat, compared with 36 percent in favor.

A New York Times-CBS News poll found 46 percent disapproved of the government’s handling of the auto industry’s problems, while 41 percent approved. And in a Wall Street Journal/NBC survey, 53 percent disapproved of the U.S. providing financial aid to the automakers. Detroit-based General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection June 1 and Turin, Italy-based Fiat SpA bought a stake in Chrysler, which is also partially owned by the U.S. government.

“The American people are rightly frustrated” with the economy and deficit, Obama’s spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said today. “Numbers in different questions bounce around” in polls, he said, and Obama “is going to do what he thinks is in the best interests” of the U.S. economy.

Overall Ratings

Obama’s overall job-performance ratings remain high. The Pew poll found 61 percent approved of his job performance, compared with 63 percent in a survey conducted in April. The Times-CBS survey put Obama’s approval rating at 63 percent, down 5 points since April. The Journal-NBC poll gave Obama a 56 percent job-approval rating, also 5 points below April’s figure.

The support for Obama amid concerns about his policies parallels Americans’ views about Republican Ronald Reagan during his presidency, said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center.

“People continue to have high confidence that Obama’s approach will work, even though they are hesitant about increasing the role of government and worry about the deficit,” Kohut said. “With Reagan, people worried that he was cutting government too much, but approved for as long as they thought his approach would fix the economy.”

Views on Economy

In the Pew poll, even as Americans expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s handling of the bailouts of GM and Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler, 65 percent of respondents said Obama’s policies eventually will improve the economy.

In the Journal-NBC poll, 46 percent said the economy would improve in the next year, up from 38 percent in April.

The Pew poll of 1,502 adults was taken June 10-14 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The Times- CBS survey of 895 adults was conducted June 12-16 and had an error margin of 3 percentage points. The Journal-NBC poll was conducted June 12-15 and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

To contact the reporters on this story: Timothy J. Burger in Washington at tburger2@bloomberg.net; Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 18, 2009 16:48 EDT