As the House Judiciary Committee today considers legislation that would ban or degrade many tech conveniences that consumers like, Chamber of Progress released the results of new Morning Consult polling of 2,000 registered voters’ views on tech regulation. 

The survey found that while voters generally support regulation of tech services, they ranked the issue behind other priority areas for Congress.  And after they learned more detail about proposals like that of Rep. David Cicilline to ban certain tech conveniences, voters in the survey opposed that idea 45% to 39%.  

Full Survey Results Here

Key findings of the survey include:

• Asked to rank the relative importance of issues for Congress to address, voters in the survey ranked tech company regulations last, behind 1) the economy, 2) public health, 3) climate change, and 4) infrastructure.

• Before the impacts of the proposed legislation were described, 53% of voters in the survey expressed support for greater tech regulation (with 25% opposed).  But after the impacts on everyday tech conveniences were described, voter sentiment flipped to 45% opposed, 39% support.  Independent voters were especially opposed to the proposals after learning more, with 46% opposing and 34% supporting.

• After voters in the survey learned about the possible impacts of Rep. Cicilline’s proposal…
  • 59% were more likely to oppose the proposal after learning that it would ban Amazon Prime free shipping;
  • 49% were more likely to oppose the proposal after learning that it would ban Google Maps in Google search results; and 
  • 49% were more likely to oppose the proposal after learning that it would ban Amazon Basics products

• 83% of registered voters in the survey find Amazon Prime free shipping valuable;  82% find Google Maps in search results valuable; 67% find Amazon Basics products valuable; and 56% find iMessage and Facetime on new iPhones valuable.

“The message here is clear: consumers want the government to scrutinize and regulate the tech industry, but don’t want Congress redesigning the apps and services that make their lives easier,” said Chamber of Progress CEO Adam Kovacevich.  “After voters learn what these proposals would actually do, they flip from supporters to opponents.”

This poll was commissioned by Chamber of Progress and conducted by Morning Consult between June 17-21, 2021 among a national sample of 1,995 registered voters.  The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of voters based on age, educational attainment, gender, race, and region. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of +/- 2%.

# # #

Chamber of Progress (progresschamber.org) is a new 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.