DATE: February 22, 2022
TO: Interested Parties
FROM: American Edge Project
RE: Efforts to rein in “Big Tech” miss the mark on voter priorities
As the U.S. struggles with inflation and faces heightened national security concerns, efforts to rein in “Big Tech” are a low voter priority.
Americans are grappling with the lingering effects of COVID-19 and facing the daily strains of an inflationary crisis. A recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed an alarming 7.5 percent increase in inflation just last year, representing the largest price surge in over four decades. Everyday items are getting more expensive and harder to find as the country continues to struggle with supply chain issues. Meantime, events unfolding abroad – from China doubling down to pursue global tech domination to Russia encroaching on the Ukrainian border – underscore the urgency of maintaining America’s leadership and technological competitive edge on the world stage.
Yet some lawmakers in Washington are pushing legislation aimed at kneecapping America’s most innovative companies, even though overwhelming majorities of voters want leaders to focus on issues affecting their daily lives and the country’s national security.
Antitrust legislation seeking to punish “Big Tech” companies would have serious consequences: imposing immense costs to the economy, undermining small businesses and local innovation, hurting U.S. national security (to the benefit of adversaries like China), and harming consumers.
Voters in battleground districts oppose these harmful policies and want Congress to focus on national security, health care, and economic issues instead.
Policymakers pushing tech regulation are out of touch with voters and are pursuing a low priority issue.
According to a recent Ipsos survey conducted on behalf of the American Edge Project that polled voters in 32 frontline districts, a mere 19 percent of voters said that regulating technology is their top priority.
The poll found that:
- 91 percent of voters rate protecting national security a top priority issue.
- 88 percent of voters rate jobs as a top priority issue.
- 86 percent of voters rate health care as a top priority issue.
The survey also found that voters in frontline districts believe breaking up tech companies will harm the economy, national security, and small businesses, and are intimately worried about the economic consequences that could result from breaking up U.S. companies. They are concerned that:
- Without the top American companies intact, the S. could be less economically competitive (83 percent find this concerning; 75 percent find this believable.)
- There could be unintended negative consequences like greater threats to U.S. national security and the U.S. losing its economic competitive edge (84 percent find this concerning; 74 percent find this believable.)
- American small businesses that rely on tech platforms to reach consumers could be hurt because they could be forced to buy into additional platforms to reach the same number of consumers (83 percent find this concerning; 78 percent find this believable.)
Take it from lawmakers themselves: they have bigger priorities.
Policymakers are doubling down on tech regulation should heed their own advice when it comes to what issues ought to be top priority. Misguided efforts to ram through antitrust legislation are happening against a backdrop of lawmakers calling out other issues as top priorities for the American people:
“Coming out of the pandemic, there’s some major changes we have to make with policy…And that means laser focus on supply chains. Everything that’s related to workers and having enough workers for jobs. That means everything from having enough apprenticeships to immigration reform to making sure we’re bringing down prices for families.”
– Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) on the supply chain crisis
“Our focus must be on addressing disruptions in global supply chains and, in an increasingly crowded global market that’s been impacted by a pandemic, amplifying our own economy’s strengths.”
– Senator Chris Coons on America’s economy
“Right now, inflation should get everyone on high alert. The market can’t handle it. You can’t keep throwing fuel on the fire. You just can’t do it.”
– Senator Joe Manchin on inflation
“My mother just went to the grocery store. It cost her eight dollars for a pound of ground round. I filled up my gas tank back home. Yes, we’re seeing it. It needs to be addressed, no doubt about it. We’ve got to look at how we lower those costs for families.”
– Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) on inflation
- “One of the things I’d like to see, and the things that should’ve happened already, is prescription drug negotiations, lowering health care costs and prescription drug costs for families.”
– Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) on health care
“Congress must act now to reinstate an emergency paid sick and family caregiving leave policy to help support workers and businesses as we continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. I urge congressional leadership and the Biden administration to prioritize expanded paid sick and family leave…”
– Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on pandemic relief
“I am doing everything I can to address rising costs for the people of Georgia. It’s why I introduced my gas relief act yesterday…”
– Senator Raphael Warnock on rising costs
“While we are rightly focused on the crisis unfolding around Ukraine, we must not lose sight of how dangerously close Iran is to becoming a nuclear-armed state.”
– Senator Bob Menendez on national security
“Recent severe cyber-attacks have compromised Americans’ personal information, such as credit cards and social security numbers, and disrupted essential services our communities rely on every day. These attacks continue to present a serious threat to our national and economic security.”
– Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) on national security
The bottom line: Policymakers seeking to break up America’s most innovative companies are out of touch with key voters. Rather than focusing on dismantling American tech companies, lawmakers should prioritize addressing the pressing issues of national security, jobs and health care – issues that are top of mind for voters and that they themselves acknowledge are top priorities.
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