RSSNearly three-quarters of Americans support the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 which created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to a survey commissioned jointly by a pair of consumer advocacy organizations.
Seventy-three percent of respondents to the survey said they support the Act, including its creation of the CFPB. The survey of 1,000 likely voters was commissioned by Americans for Financial Reform and the Center for Responsible Lending.
Nearly two-thirds of Democrats (64 percent) and independents (67 percent) and just over half of Republicans (56 percent) polled said that stronger enforcement of financial protection laws will affect them personally.
More than 90 percent of voters say it’s important to regulate financial services and products, including 69 percent who say it is very important. This includes 96 percent of Democrats, 92 percent of independents, and 85 percent of Republicans.
Nearly 80 percent of those asked also expressed their support for the CFPB’s rule regulating payday loans and car-title lending, an issue which has been contentious ever since Acting Director Mick Mulvaney took over the bureau from previous director Richard Cordray.
“The poll makes clear that consumers want the CFPB to protect them from abusive predatory lenders, and they want the agency’s work to continue without interference,” said Mike Calhoun, president of CRL.
Other issues which drew heavy concern from those polled were ending or limiting efforts to combat redlining, restricting public access to the CFPB consumer complaint database, and cutting back on work to combat racial discrimination in lending.
“Support for the mission of the CFPB remains strong even as this administration and many lawmakers badmouth its work, which testifies to the enduring appeal of tough regulation of Wall Street and predatory lenders,” said Lisa Donner, executive director at AFR. “Ten years after the financial crisis, the public knows what it wants.”
The poll was conducted by the bipartisan team of Lake Research Partners and Chesapeake Beach Consulting June 28 to July 7.
