New Poll Finds Voters Widely Support Cracking Down on Corporate Crime

On Friday, polling firm and think tank Data for Progress and the Center for Economic and Policy Research's Revolving Door Project released new polling which finds that voters across the political spectrum widely support crackdowns on corporate crime.

In the accompanying "Voters Want To Crack Down On Corporate Crime" memo, the two organizations call on President Biden to take executive action against corporate crime, citing further polling showing Americans agree that a lack of corporate accountability is harmful for workers and American democracy.

Among the polls' key findings:

• 70% of voters agree that the criminal justice system is rigged towards the wealthy and well-connected.
• 83% agree that corporate evasion of accountability harms trust in American institutions and the rule of law.
• 77% of voters believe that corporate CEOs should face personal liability, including jail time, for the crimes their company commits.

In addition, a clear majority of voters -- including 74% of Democrats and 55% of Independents -- believe that federal regulations are essential to protecting workers, providing a critical window of opportunity for the Biden administration to take charge on enacting new worker protections.

The memo advises that clamping down on corporate crime isn't just smart politics for Biden: it's critical to achieving justice for marginalized people. "Every time a corporate polluter is given a pass for its offenses, another will be enabled to harm the health of children in marginalized communities," notes Aidan Smith, the lead author of the report. "Whenever an employer avoids punishment for stealing employees wages', others will be empowered to rob workers of the fruits of their labor. And, as the world learned in the years following 2008, failing to punish financial criminals only encourages Wall Street to gamble our collective future away."

The memo is the second installment of the collaborative Corporate Crackdown Project, following the release of the Protecting Workers From Corporate Crime report in November.