As the new Congress and regulatory agencies kick into gear for 2023, it’s important to remember that regulating America’s leading tech companies is not a priority for consumers. Recent polling highlights that consumers want the government to focus on more pressing issues, such as the economy and inflation—and to avoid breaking popular tech tools and services. 

A series of polls from the past year show what you need to know:

Polling from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce shows that, across the economy, consumers are not focused on whether companies are “too big.”

A majority of voters want the government to work on lowering prices, while very few are concerned with businesses being “too big.” “When it comes to regulating companies, 54% of voters think the government should prioritize lowering prices for consumers, while only 16% think they should prioritize keeping businesses from getting too big.”

Sixty-seven percent of voters are worried that new regulation will increase consumer prices. “67% of voters believe more government regulation of companies will increase prices on consumers.”

Antitrust intervention that would impact consumer services is particularly opposed, with 70% of voters strongly or somewhat against such interventions. “70% of voters would strongly oppose or somewhat oppose antitrust regulation that impacts services they rely on daily, with 51% suggesting they may be inclined to vote against those who support antitrust regulation.”

Consumers resoundingly believe that “market competition, not government regulation, is the fuel of American innovation.” “81% of likely voters believe that market competition, not government regulation, is the fuel of American innovation.”

Polling by Chamber of Progress reveals that battleground voters are focused on inflation and want companies to choose policies that benefit consumers—not competitors. 

Voters want companies to choose policies that benefit consumers over other policies to benefit suppliers, developers, or other companies. “[A] majority of battleground voters prefer technology companies choose policies that benefit consumers over policies that benefit suppliers, developers, or other companies.”

Voters want the government to focus on controlling inflation, not regulating tech companies. “Controlling inflation (42%) is the top issue battleground voters want to see their Senator prioritize, while regulating technology companies was only selected by 1% of voters.”

Polling from Echelon Insights and NetChoice also shows that consumers want the government to focus on inflation and not on tech regulation.

A strong majority of voters want Congress focused on inflation—not regulating large tech companies. “89% [of surveyed voters] say Congress should focus on addressing inflation rather than breaking up large tech companies.”

Most Americans trust the free market to address competition in the tech sector, with relatively few reporting they trust the government to address it. “66% [of surveyed voters] trust the free market to address competition in tech. Only 18% of Americans said they trust the government more to address this.”

Read more on how consumers don’t want the government to focus on tech regulation here, here, and here.