Registered voters in eight battleground states — Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio and West Virginia — would prefer the leadership structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau be changed to a multi-person commission from a single director, according to a press release issued yesterday by the Consumer Bankers Association.
Only 14% of those polled said the current leadership structure should be left the way it is.
More than 60% of those surveyed, which included Democrats and Republicans, believed that a commission would make the CFPB more accountable, more transparent, more fair, and more representative. And nearly 60% said that oversight of financial services institutions is “too important” to be left in the hands of a single director.
The Independent Community Bankers of America and the American Land and Title Association commissioned the poll along with the CBA.
Among individual states:
- In Indiana, by a 4-1 margin, voters agree the CFPB should be structured as a commission like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
- In Ohio, by a 3-1 margin, voters prefer a bipartisan commission over a single director.
- In Maine, 63% of voters support establishing a bipartisan commission at the CFPB.
- In Michigan, voters said a commission would make the CFPB fairer (62%), more representative (63%), more accountable (62%), and more transparent (60%).
- In Missouri, voters said a commission would make the CFPB fairer (61%), more representative (61%), more accountable (62%), and more transparent (58%).
- In Montana, 60 percent of voters support establishing a bipartisan commission at the CFPB.
- In North Dakota, by a 4-1 margin, voters prefer a bipartisan commission over a sole director.
- In West Virginia, three out of five voters believe a commission would help consumers and small businesses.
“It’s hard to find any policy position in Washington that a majority of Americans agree on,” ALTA CEO Michelle Korsmo said. “So when 58 percent of consumers said the CFPB’s authority to supervise financial institutions, write rules and enforce penalties is too important to be controlled by a single director, Congress should listen to them.”
