Reply #8: Wall Street Despised in Poll Showing Majority Want Regulation

[ozymandius]

March 24 (Bloomberg) -- Americans are leery about creating a new federal agency to make consumer-protection rules for mortgages and credit cards and would prefer to enhance the existing powers of banking regulators.

Most people interviewed in the Bloomberg National Poll say they don’t like Wall Street, banks or insurance companies and favor letting the government punish bankers who helped cause the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Almost seven out of 10 people surveyed support using current bank regulators for consumer protection, backing positions held by the financial industry and Republicans over President Barack Obama’s proposal to establish an independent agency. .....

The poll’s findings come as the White House and congressional Democrats pivot to focus more election-year attention on an unpopular political target -- banks and Wall Street -- following this week’s victory on health-care legislation. ....

The majority of poll participants -- 56 percent -- say big financial companies are more interested in enriching themselves at the expense of ordinary people, while 40 percent say such firms play a vital role in enabling the economy to grow.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a4nQoiYaj2ag&pos=2