Net Neutrality Trails Other Top Issues, Such As Entitlement Reform, Healthcare, Immigration Reform and Reducing the Federal Budget Deficit, Among Several Others

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) announced results of a new survey conducted by Morning Consult concerning voters’ overall attitude toward "net neutrality."

In recent months, "net neutrality" has become a hot-button political phrase in Washington, D.C. policy circles.  To determine whether voters' attitudes toward the issue matched the rhetorical intensity of the policy debate inside the Washington, D.C., beltway, CFIF commissioned a survey of 1,913 registered voters from March 7-9 to measure whether “net neutrality” actually moves the needle for voters ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Among the results, when asked to rate how important an issue that has been in the news lately was in determining their vote, “net neutrality” came in dead last. In fact, "net neutrality" was not deemed "very important" by a majority of any demographic group surveyed.

When asked to prioritize which of the issues was most important in determining their vote, "net neutrality" was selected by a scant four percent of voters. A candidate’s position on issues dealing with entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security, healthcare, immigration, the federal budget deficit, and infrastructure, among other issues, were all more important to voters.

Even when expanded to their top two issues in determining who they would vote for, only 8% of voters surveyed specified "net neutrality" as either the first or second most important issue for them. For comparison, views about entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security were deemed most important by 38% of voters, while healthcare was selected by 37%.

"Recent news surrounding net neutrality has inspired heated rhetoric, but for everyday Americans, net neutrality ranks at the very bottom of the priority list," said Jeffrey Mazzella, CFIF's President.  "Even among those who stated that net neutrality was important to them, virtually none of them ranked it in their top two issues of concern.  Simply put, the inside-the-beltway noise surrounding net neutrality – driven by well-funded, professional activists – just doesn’t match the reality of what voters are concerned about."

To read the polling memo, click here.

Founded in 1998, the Center for Individual Freedom is a constitutional and free market advocacy organization with hundreds of thousands of activists and supporters nationwide.

###