Public Isn't Buying Wall Street Reform: AP Poll

[depakid]

Americans aren't convinced new Wall Street rules will prevent a future financial crisis.

An Associated Press-GfK Poll finds that 64 percent of those surveyed aren't confident that a financial regulation overhaul before Congress will avert another meltdown. Lawmakers concede that they can't predict what a future emergency might look like and have designed the sweeping bill to avoid a recurrence of the 2008 financial collapse.

The legislation, now in its final stages, would force regulators to watch for financial threats, set up new consumer protections and police previously unregulated financial products.

The poll shows that Americans spread the blame for the last crisis widely: 8 in 10 blame banks for the crisis, while 7 in 10 blame the government. About 6 in 10 blame people who borrowed money that they couldn't afford to repay, while less than a quarter blame President Barack Obama, who was came into office after the meltdown.

Amid competing news, particularly the Gulf oil spill, only one-quarter of poll respondents said they were very closely or extremely closely following news about the Wall Street legislation.

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/21/wall-street-reform-poll-ap_n_620421.html?ir=Politics

They're right- though not always for the right reasons. Bottom line: the Dems have a lot of selling to do (and they own the next meldown ).