Public in Favor of Financial Reform

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


According to a new Washington Post poll:

  • 63% want stronger regulation of the financial industry
  • 43% want stronger regulation of derivatives
  • 53% support requiring banks pay into a fund to help wind down failed financial institutions
  • 59% support stronger regulation of consumer finance products

I’m a little unsure if this is good news or bad news. It’s good that there’s generally majority (or better) support for all this stuff, but the majorities aren’t all that big. I wouldn’t be surprised, for example, if lots of people had no opinion on regulation of derivatives, but I am surprised that among those who do have an opinion, support for stronger regulation is so weak (43%-41%).

On the other hand, numbers like these are often high and then fall once the political debate starts. These numbers are (mostly) still fairly high even though the public debate has been in full swing for a month or two. So that’s promising.

Overall, though, the public doesn’t exactly seem ready to hit the streets with pitchforks and torches. Maybe public opinion would be stronger if we could somehow convince them that Goldman Sachs planned to convene death panels?

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate