Poll: Voters want oversight of financial firms, creation of consumer-focused agency

An overwhelming majority of voters polled want oversight of financial firms and reforms to take effect as soon as possible, including the creation of a consumer protection bureau. 

After hearing arguments from both sides of the debate, 66 percent of voters want Wall Street to be held accountable and prevented from repeating the same actions, according to a poll conducted by Lake Research Partners, sponsored by AARP, the Center for Responsible Lending and Americans for Financial Reform.

Only 23 percent agree with an opposing statement that Wall Street reform kills jobs and creates excessive government regulation and bureaucracy that could hamper the nation's economic recovery.

Of those polled, 63 percent said they strongly favor government regulation of financial companies, including 61 percent of independents.

A majority of respondents also want to see the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) up and running, with 74 percent saying they are in favor of having an agency with the single mission of protecting consumers in problems faced with financial companies. 

Support holds across party lines, with 83 percent of Democrats, 73 percent of Independents and 68 percent of Republicans in favor of the CFPB.

President Obama nominated Richard Cordray on Monday to head up the CFPB, which is slated to open for business on Thursday. 

Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) said the “poll is further proof that the American people understand the importance of greater oversight of Wall Street, and the need for an effective and independent consumer financial watchdog,” and that he'll move Cordray's nomination forward. 

“I intend to move his nomination forward in the Banking Committee in a timely manner," Johnson said. "It is disappointing that most Senate Republicans have threatened to block the nomination of any CFPB Director despite the American people's clear support for the Bureau and its mission of protecting consumers.”

Albert Kelly Jr., chairman-elect of the  American Bankers Association, told the Senate Banking panel on Tuesday that a board or commission needs to be created "rather than giving the head of the bureau sole authority to make decisions that could fundamentally alter the financial choices available for customers."

"We urge the Congress to pass statutory provisions that ensure such accountability before the Bureau is established with a single director,” he said.

Senate Republicans have expressed continued opposition to one director heading up the agency, preferring a five-person commission. 

On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Senate Republicans "still aren’t interested in approving anyone to the position until the president agrees to make this massive new government bureaucracy more accountable and transparent to the American people."

Respondents also were solidly behind — 93 percent — requiring credit card companies, banks and other lenders to provide clearer explanations of their rates and fees.

Another 77 percent back making it harder for lenders to offer loans with risky or confusing features, such as low teaser rates. And 73 percent favor banning payments from lenders to mortgage brokers for giving homeowners a mortgage with a higher rate than they are qualified for.  

"During the financial crisis, too many older Americans lost their savings due to the failure of an outdated and compromised financial regulatory system," aid Nancy LeaMond, executive vice president of AARP. “That's why most Americans say they want clear, accurate information so they can make the best financial decisions for their families, and a watchdog that will protect them from financial abuse.”

In a separate poll released Tuesday, 67 percent of those surveyed said Republicans care more about protecting large business corporations, and 59 percent say the same is true in the case of large corporations.

While a majority said they think congressional Republicans care more about protecting Wall Street, financial institutions and large business corporations, they said Obama is seen as more caring about “you and your family,” small business and the middle class, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll. 

Obama is seen as caring more about the middle class than Republicans by a 53 percent to 35 percent margin, more about small business by a 48 percent to 39 percent margin, and about “you and your family" by 47 percent to 37 percent, according to the poll. 

“The president’s advantage on small businesses is particularly notable, given the GOP’s efforts to portray his policies as damaging to small-business job-creation,” the ABC news analysis said. “While Republicans are fully aboard, independents, the linchpin of national politics, say by 46-39 percent that Obama cares more than GOP leaders about the economic interests of small businesses, a fairly close call, but with a tilt in the president’s direction.”