On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, targeting the company for integrating its online marketplace and shipping logistics model and highlighting best offers in the Amazon “buy box.” 

Polling from Chamber of Progress finds that 64% of all voters are currently Amazon Prime members, and that the most cited reason for subscribing to Prime is Amazon’s two-day shipping model. A majority (61%) of voters think government regulations should not prevent Amazon from providing the best services to its customers, even if that means sellers and competitors make less money.

“At a time when families need help, it’s really surprising that the FTC would try to break up a service that nearly half of all Americans use to make their lives easier,” said Chamber of Progress Founder and CEO Adam Kovacevich. “The FTC is targeting practices that Amazon’s competitors don’t like competing against – like two-day shipping and low prices for consumers — but which American families love.  Breaking up Amazon Prime would only raise prices for consumers, threaten free shipping, and make it harder for families to get affordable goods.”

Kovacevich also noted that only 17 state attorneys general joined the lawsuit – far fewer than the 48 states who joined the FTC suit against Meta or 38 states joining the Justice Department’s current search default lawsuit against Google. 

“Unlike FTC Commissioners, most state AGs are directly elected by voters.  The fact that most of those state officials stayed off this lawsuit is a sign that they recognize how much voters value Amazon Prime,” Kovacevich said.

For more on how the FTC’s lawsuit threatens to impact consumers, read Kovacevich’s op-ed in The Well News. For more on the politics of the FTC’s suit, read Kovacevich’s blog post, Bidenomics is Working for Consumers. So Why Is the Administration Suing to Break Up Amazon Prime?

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Chamber of Progress (progresschamber.org) is a center-left tech industry policy coalition promoting technology’s progressive future.  We work to ensure that all Americans benefit from technological leaps, and that the tech industry operates responsibly and fairly.  

Our corporate partners do not have a vote on or veto over our positions. We do not speak for individual partner companies and remain true to our stated principles even when our partners disagree.