WASHINGTON—This morning, NetChoice released new polling, conducted by Echelon Insights, which shows three major findings about American attitudes toward Amazon and how they feel about the Biden FTC’s targeting of the company and its services. These findings ring true among conservative voters in particular.
First, Americans love Amazon, particularly the very services being targeted by the FTC in this lawsuit.
Second, voters don’t think targeting Amazon Prime’s services will effectively protect consumers, and they don’t like that the FTC is targeting these highly valued resources.
Third, respondents want Congress to exercise its oversight power over the agency, and they would be less likely to support political candidates that endorse efforts like the FTC’s to go after Amazon’s services.
“The data clearly show that using the government to target Amazon’s Prime services is a losing political issue for candidates. Our data backs up exactly what we’ve seen from several previous studies—Americans love Amazon Prime and value the benefits and savings it provides to them,” said Carl Szabo, NetChoice Vice President & General Counsel. “As costs continue to rise in Biden’s economy, the President should stop allowing his political agency heads to target companies keeping prices low for Americans, and Congress must exercise its oversight power against the FTC for failing to protect consumers and their power in the marketplace.”
You can find our polling top lines here and below, a memo from Echelon Insights here, and the full crosstabs here.
Please contact Krista Chavez at press@netchoice.org with inquiries.
Source: NetChoice & Echelon Insights – FTC/Amazon Lawsuit – Fall 2023 Survey. N=1,033, Registered Voters in the Likely Electorate, Nationally. Mode: Online, voter-file matched. Field Dates: October 4-5, 2023. Margin of Error: ± 3.7 percentage points. Read the data at NetChoice.org.
NETCHOICE & ECHELON INSIGHTS FALL 2023 TOP LINES:
- Americans love Amazon, particularly the very services being targeted by the FTC in this lawsuit.
- 78% say selling on Amazon has a positive impact on small businesses. [Q16]
- This rises to 79% of suburbanites and 83% of conservatives.
- 72% of respondents say low prices are important when determining which retailers to buy from while shopping online. [Q17]
- 65% say convenience and delivery speed is important to them when choosing which retailers to buy from while shopping online. [Q18]
- 62% of respondents, and 67% of conservatives, said if they purchased an item from an online seller or a store, and then found the identical item available at a lower price somewhere else, it would harm their trust in that original seller for any future purchases. [Q19]
- 83% say failing to meet delivery estimates and guarantees would decrease their trust. That number rises to 87% among conservatives. [Q20]
- They don’t like that the FTC is targeting Prime’s services.
- 65% of total respondents, 76% of conservatives and 64% of suburbanites, said they oppose a core outcome of the FTC’s lawsuit—Amazon could be forced to allow businesses to use slower and less reliable delivery services, potentially causing multiple logistical delays. [Q29]
- 74% said forcing Amazon to show higher prices would give them doubts about the FTC effectively protecting consumers. [Q31]
- This number rises to 77% in the suburbs and 81% among conservatives.
- 71% said slower delivery would give them doubts about the FTC effectively protecting consumers. [Q32]
- This number rises to 81% for conservatives and 73% for the suburbs.
- 75% say losing access to their Amazon Prime benefits would give them doubts about the FTC effectively protecting consumers. [Q35]
- This number rises to 83% with conservatives and 79% with suburbanites
- 86% of conservatives said they’d be concerned about the FTC’s actions harming Prime benefits. [Q36]
- 74% of suburban voters said the same.
- 75% agree with the statement: “Amazon makes my life easier and I would be angry if the government broke them up.” [Q37]
- 82% of conservatives and 76% of suburbanites agree
- When asked which of the following features and benefits they consider most valuable and should not be affected by any government actions [Q38]:
- 64% said Prime delivery; and
- 52% of consumers and 55% of conservatives say Amazon’s low price guarantee should not be affected by government intervention.
- 64% of suburbanites and 79% of conservatives say a ban on Amazon’s ability to sell its AmazonBasics product line would be big government overreach. [Q39]
- They want Congress to conduct more oversight of the FTC.
- Only 21% of all respondents and 19% of suburbanites approve of Lina Khan’s job performance as Chair of the FTC. [Q12]
- 66% of respondents said they support Congress providing more oversight of the FTC, with 27% of conservatives saying they “strongly support” this idea. [Q27]
- 66% of conservatives and 55% of suburbanites would be less likely to vote for a candidate that supports efforts like the FTC’s that would slow delivery and shipping of goods bought online. [Q40]
- 77% of respondents say low morale at the FTC gives them doubts the agency is effectively protecting consumers [Q30]
- This number rises to 79% in the suburbs and to 83% among conservatives.