WASHINGTON– According to a new survey commissioned by an organization that strongly backs the Credit card Competition Act, an overwhelming majority of likely voters want to see the legislation.
Credit unions and other financial services providers are just as strongly opposed to the CCCA, which ultimately seeks to lower interchange fees for merchants by providing additional routing options.
The Merchants Payments Coalition, which conducted the survey, said it found both Democrats and Republicans are more likely to support Senate candidates who back the measure, according to a new survey released today by the Merchants Payments Coalition.
‘The Results are Clear’
“These results are clear: Americans by huge margins want Congress to do something about out-of-control credit card swipe fees that are driving up costs for small businesses and prices for consumers,” MPC Executive Committee member and National Association of Convenience Stores General Counsel Doug Kantor said in a statement. “These fees have an impact on families across every sector of our society and virtually everyone wants competition to fix this broken market.”
Survey Results
According to the survey, 55% of likely voters in this fall’s general election support the CCCA while only 7% oppose it, and 38% are unsure. “Supporters outnumber opponents by nearly 50 percentage points,” the MPC said.
“The survey found 42% of voters are more likely to support a Senate candidate who supports the bill, with only 7% less likely to do so – a margin of 35 percentage points,” according to the MPC. “Among Democrats, 46% favor a candidate who supports the bill while only 6% would more likely oppose the candidate. Among Republicans, 41% favor a CCCA supporter while only 7% would lean against them based on the CCCA.”
Additional Results
The MPC said the survey also found:
- Hispanic voters would more likely support a candidate who supports the bill than one who opposes it by a margin of 39 percentage points (46%-7%), along with a 36-point margin for Black voters (49%-13%) and a 35-point margin for white voters (41%-6%).
- By income, the margin of voters more likely to support a candidate who supports the CCCA is 38 percentage points for those making between $50,000 and $100,000 (45%-7%) and for those from $100,000 to $150,000 (43%-5%). The margin is 32 points for those making above $150,000 (36%-4%) and 28 points for those making under $50,000 (40%-12%).
‘False Claims’
“Opponents have falsely claimed the CCCA would cause a reduction in credit card rewards, but that false claim makes voters even more likely to support the bill, not oppose it,” the MPC said in a statement. “In all, 37% of respondents said the loss-of-rewards message would make them more likely to support the bill. Only 15% would be less likely to support it. At 42%, voters making under $50,000 a year were most likely to favor the bill more even after hearing the reduced-rewards message.
About the Survey
The survey of 2,040 likely general election voters was conducted June 3-6 by the polling firm co/efficient through mobile phone text responses and landline telephone interviews. The results were weighted by age, gender, education level, race, region and self-reported political party and have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.17%.