Finance Space

U.S. President Barack Obama accused opposition Republicans on Saturday of spreading misinformation about a Democratic bill that aims to tighten oversight of Wall Street banks and their practices.

With debate heating up in Washington about reforming the financial rules, regulators charged Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs with fraud on Friday.

Bank shares and the broader stock market fell on fears the civil lawsuit could make it more difficult for the financial industry to ward off reform.

After successfully shepherding his healthcare overhaul through Congress, Obama is pushing for victory on the financial regulatory reforms – a popular issue with voters in the run-up to congressional elections in November after a financial meltdown sparked the worst U.S. recession in decades.

Americans are about evenly divided on the merits of giving the federal government new powers to regulate large banks and major financial institutions; however, they offer greater support when the issue is more specifically framed as regulating “Wall Street banks.”

When Wall Street is not mentioned, net public support (percentage in favor minus percentage opposed) for banking reform legislation is +3 points, but when it is mentioned, net support is +14.

Gallup measured support for enhanced federal regulation of banking using both wordings in its April 17-18 Daily tracking. A random half-sample of respondents was asked the “Wall Street” wording; the other half was asked about banks and major financial institutions, generally.