With the first procedural vote on financial reform pending this afternoon, this survey has to be looming over Republicans.
About two-thirds of Americans support stricter regulations on the way banks and other financial institutions conduct their business, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Majorities also back two main components of legislation congressional Democrats plan to bring to a vote in the Senate this week: greater federal oversight of consumer loans and a company-paid fund that would cover the costs of dismantling failed firms that put the broader economy at risk.
A third pillar of the reform effort draws a more even split: 43 percent support federal regulation of the derivatives market; 41 percent are opposed. Nearly one in five - 17 percent - express no opinion on this complicated topic.....
The area with the highest levels of cross-party support is on more robust federal oversight of the way banks and other financial companies make consumer loans, such as auto loans, credit cards and mortgages. Here, 44 percent of Republicans approve of stricter guidelines, joining 75 percent of Democrats and 57 percent of independents on the issue.
And particularly significant for Republican members of Congress, majorities trust President Obama over the GOP on this issue 52-35. And looking ahead to November, "[i]ndependents prefer Obama 47 to 35 percent, with 16 percent trusting neither side on the issue."
From both a good public policy and good politics point of view, the stronger the CFPA provision the Democrats include, the better. Strong consumer protection--with 24 percent of the nation's homeowners underwater on their mortgages and everyone with a credit card still paying exorbitant fees and interest rates--is the most tangible and potentially popular outcome of the legislation. Not to mention being critical public policy.