Washington ? The congressional stalemate over whether to toss the country’s big automakers a $25 billion life preserver reflects a divided public, which a poll shows is evenly split over whether to come to Detroit’s rescue.

Forty-nine percent oppose giving the ailing Big Three car companies federal assistance if they are close to failing, while 47 percent support the idea, according to a Gallup Poll conducted in recent days. If one of the manufacturers was certain to go out of business without the aid, the number backing the idea edges up to 56 percent.

“I’d help them out if it helps us,” said James Henderson, 46, a mover from Dundalk, Md. “If they go out of business and everybody loses jobs, it just hurts everybody.”

The proposal for a new $25 billion federal loan for the automakers has stalled in Congress, where it is supported by Democrats but opposed by President George W. Bush and Republicans. Reflecting that rift, six in 10 Democrats in the Gallup survey said they support federal aid for Detroit and nearly two-thirds of Republicans opposed it.

“They cut their own throats,” Kay Liebenow, 56, a retired commodities sales assistant from Towanda, Ill., said of the car companies. “If somebody can’t produce a good product that people want to buy, they should go out of business.”

The divisions come at a time when people clearly consider the reeling economy to be the nation’s major problem. In an Associated Press-GfK poll earlier this month, more than eight in 10 said improving the economy and creating jobs should be top priorities for President-elect Barack Obama when he takes office in January, more than said so for nine other issues listed.

Despite that consensus, there is widespread wariness over this year’s rash of ultra-costly federal bailouts, including the October $700 billion rescue package for the financial industry. In the recent Gallup Poll, 47 percent said the $700 billion package was good while 45 percent considered it bad — a change from early October, when it was favored by a 9-percentage-point margin.