Republicans and Democrats who plan to vote in the 2020 primaries are nearly tied in their support of a credit-card interest rate cap Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposed, according to a Business Insider poll.
Nearly 70% of Republican primary voters and 73% of Democratic primary voters said they support capping credit-card interest rates at 15% like the progressive politicians want to do, according to the poll.
Overall, about 68% of respondents support the bill while 10% oppose it. (RELATED: Largest Museum In The US Says No Thanks To Future Donations From OxyContin-Linked Family)
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez announced the Loan Shark Prevention Act on May 9. It would federally cap credit-card interest rates but also allow states to legislate even lower caps, reported Business Insider on Thursday. The measure would effectively eliminate payday loans.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez listens during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on April 10, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)
Additionally, it includes a loophole that lets the Federal Reserve lift the cap if artificially low interest rates “would threaten the safety and soundness of financial institutions.”
Fox News host Tucker Carlson praised the Loan Shark Prevention Act on Friday.
“[Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez] don’t mean half of what they say. The other half they don’t really understand. They’re not impressive. But on this one issue, they are absolutely, indisputably right,” Carlson said.
He pointed out that the median average annual percentage rate for new credit cards has grown to 21.36%, according to CreditCards.com. Meanwhile, banks “can borrow money from the Federal Reserve at 3% interest,” Carlson said.
He predicted this disparity could spell trouble for Republicans who side with big banks over voters.
“It’s a lunatic strategy. It won’t end well,” Carlson said. “What happens when you refuse to give people what they desperately need? They go elsewhere. Republicans should not be surprised when that happens.”
The survey had 1,127 total respondents and a margin of error of 3.12 percentage points, according to Business Insider, which added that “digital polling tends to skew toward people with access to the internet.”
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