WASHINGTON—Today, NetChoice released a new survey, conducted by Echelon Insights, showing that 72% of Americans want federal regulators to focus on lowering prices ahead of the midterm elections, not punishing businesses for their success.
Voters were clear: Americans are focused on kitchen-table economics and view ideological antitrust enforcement against the tech industry as a costly distraction. The data clearly shows affordability-concerned voters are skeptical of, or are downright oppositional to, aggressive antitrust enforcement. In fact, “breaking up large American companies” ranked at the very bottom of voters’ thoughts on what the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) should prioritize.
“Our new polling reveals a clear mandate from the American people: they want the government to prioritize kitchen-table economics over ideological crusades against successful U.S. companies,” said Robert Winterton, NetChoice Vice President of Public Affairs.
“80% of voters recognize that our national security is strongest when the world’s leading technology companies are based here in America. Washington must listen to voters and focus the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice on stopping fraud and scams rather than pursuing costly, unpopular lawsuits that voters see as a waste of resources and a threat to our global competitiveness.”
KEY RESULTS
- 80% of voters agree the U.S. is stronger when the world’s leading tech companies are based here.
- 91% of Republicans and 77% of moderate voters believe having the world’s leading tech companies based in the U.S. makes the country stronger, and they are deeply concerned about how domestic breakups will harm America’s security.
- Nearly twice as many Americans believe breaking up U.S. tech companies will hurt us in the AI race against China than those that believe it will help us.
- 60% of voters name the economy and inflation as their top priority.
- 63% cite groceries and 41% cite utilities as the primary pressures on their personal finances.
- Only 13% of Americans believe “breaking up large American companies” should be a top priority for the FTC. This issue ranked at the BOTTOM of the priorities polled.
- This number drops to only 7% when looking at Republicans. Instead, they want the agency focused on stopping consumer fraud and scams (51%) and going after foreign-based companies that harm U.S. consumers (35%).
- By a 2-to-1 margin (56% to 24%), voters call the FTC’s appeal of the ruling in its lawsuit against Meta for its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp a “waste of taxpayer resources.”
- This number increases even further when looking at the Right: 61% of Republicans and 60% of GOP-leaning voters categorize the FTC’s appeal of the Meta ruling as a waste of resources.
- 72% of voters support applying the Consumer Welfare Standard, the gold star of antitrust enforcement that prioritizes price, demonstrable harm, and quality. This support increases to 73% among Republicans and GOP-leaning voters.
- 89% of voters agree that antitrust laws should be written and enforced equally across all companies, rejecting the exclusive targeting of specific tech businesses.
- By a nearly 20-point margin, voters want Congress to reject Europe’s innovation policy approach rather than copy it.
- 60% of Republicans and GOP-leaning voters say it is a “bad idea” for the U.S. to adopt antitrust policies similar to Europe’s stagnated economy.
- 56% of Americans oppose bringing European regulations to the U.S. if it means losing convenient features on their devices.
- 67% of Republicans and GOP-leaning voters in particular oppose importing these regulations if it means losing access to convenient features like integrated maps or security functions.
View the results from Echelon Insights here. View NetChoice’s memo on the results here. Find a one-pager on top lines here.
Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.