WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Members of Congress are acting as nervous as mice at a cat convention these days.

And for good reason, it seems.

Public anger over the taxpayer rescue of the Wall Street mess is a sword of Damocles hanging over every incumbent from President Obama on down, experts said.

“ Almost 90% of Americans are bothered by the bailout policy, while nearly half describe themselves as downright angry. ”

A misstep by one party could see them in the minority for a generation in the same way that Republicans were cast out of power by FDR and his policies during the Great Depression.

The depth of voter anger to the bailouts was revealed Monday in new polling data released by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

An overwhelming 87% majority of Americans are bothered by the bailout policy, while 48% describe themselves as downright angry.

Even more than a third - about 36%- are angry even though they also think taxpayer assistance to banks is the right idea.

Another worry for politicians is that the stock slide this year has been the steepest since the majority of American households began to hold equities in retirement plans.

In the late 1980s, only 20% of American households held stock. But that percentage has jumped to over 70% because of the advent of 401(k) plans, said pollster Scott Rasmussen. So the pain is more widely felt.

Congress getting cornered

At the same time they are bashing them, politicians have been pleading for help from policymakers.

Whenever Treasury Secretary Geithner or Fed chief Bernanke are called to Capitol Hill to explain the crisis, there are pleas for clarity and a simple story to tell voters.

A prime example came a few days ago from Senator Max Baucus, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

"I mean, if you could, is there some way you can just, in English to the average American...try to think this through and more in words, in terms, that the average American starts to understand," Baucus pleaded with Geithner.

"When you try to explain it -it's Greek," Baucus told him.

Economists are worried that Congress will do nothing more to help the banks. And this will only make the banking crisis last longer.

Vincent Reinhart, a former Fed official and now banking expert, thinks that politicians should start calling the bailout "ransom."

"They would have been much better off not calling it a bailout but calling it ransom," Reinhart said.

"We have to give resources to the financial sector because the financial sector is holding the American economy hostage," Reinhart said.

"You don't like paying ransom, but at least you understand why you do it," Reinhart said.

Reinhart and others believe that Geithner's recent sketch of a plan to set up a public/private fund to buy toxic assets was motivated chiefly by a desire to avoid asking Congress for more money for banks.

Many believe the government must first purchase the bad assets, primarily mortgage-related assets. This would require more funds to be appropriated. Some experts say there will be $1 or $2 trillion in up-front costs. Some of that money will be recovered if and when the assets are sold but this is cold-comfort for politicians.

Norm Ornstein, an expert on Congress at the American Enterprise Institute, said it would be a "tough slog" for politicians to explain voting for any tranche of the bailout.

The only argument in favor of the bailout is that it is "unfair and obnoxious but necessary," Ornstein said.

"That is a crummy answer," he said.

Opponents will be able to demagogue the issue.

"Congress is uncomfortable - they don't control their own fate," Rasmussen agreed.

Both parties in a predicament

Republicans face the risk of getting tarred as the party of hard times, said Scott Keeter of the Pew Center. But the sand is also running down the hour-glass for Obama and the Democrats, Keeter said.

"If these measures don't turn the economy around, by some date, people will reject the Democratic party," Keeter said.

That day of reckoning may come as soon as the end of 2009, Rasmussen said.

Obama's political advisers are taking steps to make sure than Obama remains on the side of the angels as a strong opponent for future bonuses for Wall Street fat cats.

That is one reason he has so strongly attacked the AIG bonuses Monday.

One tiny but interesting change detected in Pew poll is that Republicans, traditionally the party of Main Street and Wall Street bankers, are angrier about the bailout than Democrats.

Keeter of the Pew Center said it was an "intriguing finding" but probably not a sign that Republicans are now the party of White Southern non-bankers.

Instead, Keeter said that it shows that "Obama is beginning to own the problem a little more."