About half of Americans on both sides of the aisle back the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against Google, while fewer than a third oppose it, according to a new poll from progressive groups Demand Progress and Data for Progress shared exclusively with Axios.
Why it matters: There's a growing pile of evidence that regulatory action against Big Tech has bipartisan support, as state and federal antitrust action circles companies like Google and Facebook.
- While there are many party-line splits on tech policy issues like content moderation, privacy and misinformation, more policymakers and average Americans than ever agree tech is too big and powerful.
Reality check: Winning antitrust suits represents a massive lift for the government and passing new antitrust legislation is hard.
By the numbers: In an online survey of 979 likely voters polled by Demand Progress and the Demand Progress Education Fund from October 24-25 (with a margin of error of +-3.1 percentage points), 48% said they strongly or somewhat support the DOJ's lawsuit. 32% strongly or somewhat oppose it.
- The numbers were fairly consistent across both parties, with 52% of Republicans supporting the suit, compared to 49% of Democrats. 26% of Republicans polled opposed it, while 32% of Democrats did.
- 62% of respondents strongly or somewhat agree that the economic power of big tech companies is a problem for the U.S. economy; 23% strongly or somewhat disagree.
Asked if a potential President Joe Biden should crack down on big technology companies more, continue the DOJ lawsuit or end it, 49% of respondents said he should go further. 28% responded he should end the lawsuit.
- 54% of respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that Biden should avoid hiring into his administration people from companies like Google and Amazon; 26% strongly or somewhat disagreed.
