we are the majority - 70% Think Government Regulation Hurts Small Business More Than Big Business
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 Email to a Friend .Advertisement
Voters don’t care much for government regulation of the economy and think it has a bigger negative impact on small business.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 70% of Likely U.S. Voters believe government regulations hurt small businesses more than big businesses. Just 13% think big businesses are hurt more. Sixteen percent (16%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here).
Sixty-three percent (63%) think big businesses take advantage of the political process to hurt smaller competitors. Only 15% disagree, although 22% more are not sure.
These findings mark little change from October of last year.
This skepticism is perhaps not surprising considering that most voters have said in surveys for years that government and big business work together against the interests of consumers and investors.
Voters overwhelmingly prefer a free market economy to an economy managed by the government, and most voters believe increased competition rather than increased government regulation is the best way to hold big business accountable.
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on July 6-7, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Likely adding to skepticism about government regulation is the fact that just 23% of Americans are even somewhat confident that U.S. policymakers know what they’re doing when it comes to addressing the nation’s current economic problems.
Voters over 40 feel more strongly than those who are younger that government regulation hurts small businesses more. Entrepreneurs and those who work for private companies share that view more than those employed by the government.
But government workers believe more strongly than the others that big businesses use the political process to hurt their smaller competitors. Eighty percent (80%) of Democrats and 63% of voters not affiliated with either major party agree with that assessment, compared to just 46% of Republicans.
However, majorities of all three groups agree that government regulations hurt small businesses more than big ones.
Mainstream voters are nearly twice as likely as those in the Political Class to believe that small business is hurt more than big business by government regulations.
Voters have mixed feelings about government regulation of big business, but most feel small businesses are regulated too much.
Americans still look back unfavorably on the federal government bailout of the financial industry and think the billions in taxpayer money went to those who caused the financial meltdown. A sizable majority feel the federal government has not been aggressive enough in pursuing criminal behavior by top Wall Street executives.
Despite General Motors' seemingly improved financial picture and Chrysler’s hopes to repay the government in the near future, most voters remain convinced that the bailouts of the big automakers were a mistake.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Americans believe some companies routinely hire regulators to get favorable treatment from the government, and nearly as many (53%) think companies that regularly hire former regulators get that special treatment.
Americans overwhelmingly believe that government regulators should be banned from working for companies they regulate for at least five years. A sizable number also think companies that offer jobs to regulators should be banned from doing business with the government altogether.
Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.
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Rasmussen Reports is an electronic media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion polling information. We poll on a variety of topics in the fields of politics, business and lifestyle, updating our site’s content on a news cycle throughout the day, everyday.
Rasmussen Reports Platinum Members get an all-access pass to polling news, analysis and insight not available to the general public.
Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an independent pollster for more than a decade. To learn more about our methodology, click here.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on July 6-7, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
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