Nearly 80% of U.S. Voters do NOT Support Net Neutrality

A new poll by Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 54% of respondents (and “likely voters”) are outright opposed to regulation and 25% are not certain. Most fear regulation would promote political agenda.

It is not clear that most voters understand what net neutrality actually is. When asked if they had been following stories about net neutrality, only 20 percent said they are following news of the net neutrality regulations “very closely,”

The question asked by Rasmussen was:

“Should the Federal Communications Commission regulate the Internet like it does radio and television?”

As Amy Lee posted on Huffington Post:

“The respondents were asked, ‘Should the Federal Communications Commission regulate the Internet like it does radio and television?’ With a topic as broad, and as complicated, as net neutrality, such a question addresses only one small part of the whole picture.

For example, Rasmussen could just as legitimately have asked, ‘Should all internet users have the same access to the same Internet, regardless of how much they pay?’ Or it might have asked, ‘Should broadband carriers have the ability to block or remove content based on their discretion alone?’”

At least one of the other three questions suggested that if the Federal Communications Commission is given the authority to regulate the internet, they might use it to promote a political agenda.

According to Rasmussen:

“The survey was conducted shortly after the FCC decided on a party line vote to impose so-called “net neutrality” regulations on the Internet world. Republicans and unaffiliated voters overwhelmingly oppose FCC regulation of the Internet, while Democrats are more evenly divided.”

There’s little doubt the outcome would have been different if the ramifications of the lack of legislation had been stated in the questions and/or had the suggestive questions not been used.