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As CFPB Director Rohit Chopra heads to Capitol Hill this week for his semi-annual grilling by House and Senate Committees, a poll released last week showed that his agency continues to have widespread support among voters.
Chopra is scheduled to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday on his agency’s semi-annual report. The next day, he is scheduled to cross the Capitol and testify before the Senate Banking Committee.
Voters Support CFPB
His testimony comes as the Center for Responsible Lending and Americans for Financial Reform released a poll conducted by the bipartisan duo of Lake Research Partners and Chesapeake Beach Consulting. The poll was conducted online from September 13-19, 2023; the survey reached a total of 1,550 likely November 2024 voters nationwide. The margin of error is +/- 2.5% for the full sample.
Much of the poll centered on regulation of “Wall Street” financial firms without separating the types of financial services firm.
However, a couple of questions centered on the CFPB.
In one, the pollsters read the likely voters a short description of the CFPB’s work, with 82% of those answering saying they supported the agency. The poll also showed that support was bipartisan—88% of Democrats expressed support for the agency, 77% of Republicans and 73% of independents expressing support for the CFPB.
In a second question, the pollsters read those being polled arguments for and against the CFPB’s mission—with the argument against emphasizing possible harms from government regulation. The poll showed 64% of those responding saying that it was important for the CFPB to provide rules for financial products.
Democrats were more supportive, with 75% saying that the CFPB’s work was important, 55% of Republicans and the same percentage of Independents saying it was important.
Semi-Annual Report
During the House and Senate hearings, Chopra will present his agency’s semi-annual report focusing on the CFPB’s work during the past six months.
Among other things, the agency reported that in the period of April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023, the CFPB received approximately 1,346,800 consumer complaints.
The CFPB sent about 944,300 of the complaints it received to companies for their review and companies responded to about 99% of them.
During the hearings this week, Chopra is likely to be asked questions about events having nothing to do with the CFPB—stories in the Wall Street Journal detailing allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination at the FDIC.
Chopra is a member of the FDIC board of directors, which has established a special review committee to supervise an independent investigation of the allegations.
CFPB
