MEMO: National poll on government regulations
DATE: SEPTEMBER 12, 2011
TO: PUBLIC NOTICE
FROM: NICHOLAS THOMPSON & BRIAN TRINGALI
RE: KEY FINDINGS FROM NATIONAL SURVEY
The Tarrance Group is pleased to present Public Notice with the key findings from a survey of N=801 registered “likely” voters across the country. Interviews were conducted September 6-8, 2011, and, in 95 out of 100 cases, the margin of error on a sample of this type is +/- 3.5%.
KEY FINDINGS
– There is little appetite among American voters for additional regulations coming out of Washington. Three quarters (74%) of voters throughout the country believe that businesses and consumers are over-regulated. Further, another two thirds (67%) believe that regulations have increased over the past few years. These percentages include majorities of all partisan affiliations, with 91% of Republicans, 75% of Independents and 58% of Democrats saying businesses/consumers are over-regulated.
– A key fear among voters is that regulations will hinder job creation, as most believe the result of new regulation will be either job losses (47%) or increased prices for American made goods and services (22%).
– More than two thirds (70%) believe increasing the number of regulations on American businesses will result in more jobs moving overseas. Also, majorities agree that the increasing number of regulations have created uncertainty for large and small businesses (66%), and that agencies who enforce regulations fail to consider how their decisions lead to increased prices for consumers and job losses (69%).
– A majority (56%) agrees that “more government intervention and regulation to the process of overseeing business means you have less accountability because everyone assumes someone else is in charge”, while only 38% agree more that additional regulation leads to more accountability because of the increased number involved in oversight.
– One of the highest points of agreement in the survey is the fact that 73% concur that “every time the federal government mandates a new regulation on America’s large and small business, the prices of American made good and services like gasoline and food go up.” Only 22% supported the view that “while many federal regulations might be just another burden to operations of America’s large and small businesses, customers do not see major cost increases for American made goods and services like gasoline and food.”
– Voters are simply unaware that Congress is not in a lead position with regard to regulation, as a majority say that Congress (52%) creates regulations. However, there is a strong desire for checks and balances in creating regulations, as two thirds (65%) favor requiring regulations be approved by Congress and the President before they are enforced. Voters do not want a regulatory process that takes away legislative duties reserved for Congress – just as they do not want judges legislating from the bench. This strong support for Congressional involvement is consistent across partisan groups, including among Democrats (67%), Republicans (65%) and Independents (64%).
– Voters also see a personal connection to new regulations, with majorities saying they are negatively impacted from regulations ranging from those that try to control the banking and financial industry (59%) to those that tell American businesses which workers they can hire (57%) to regulations that dictate what light bulbs Americans must purchase (60%). A majority of both conservatives (61%) and liberals (54%) say they are negatively impacted by regulations that tell American businesses which workers to hire.
– There are some positive connections to regulations, with solid majorities saying they are positively impacted by those that require certain safety levels for drinking water (72%) or require controls to ensure better safety at schools and in the workplace (66%).
– When presented with a lengthy explanation of the Boeing case — where the federal government has filed a lawsuit over the their motivations for locating a new facility in the non-union state of South Carolina — fully 78% of voters side with Boeing in agreeing that a business should be able to open a facility in any state, and that the government should not be involve in the decision about where Boeing or any company locates new plants.
Click here to download the accompanying slides. Click here to download the memorandum. Click here to view the accompanying infographic.