Poll Claims Widespread Support for Net Neutrality Rules

Wednesday. Eighty percent of Republicans either somewhat or strongly agreed with the idea of the FCC adopting rules against blocking, throttling or paid prioritization, IFBA said in a news release. Communications Act Title II opponents downplayed the poll’s significance as Congress began holding hearings on the issue, and noted the survey doesn't specifically mention Title II or reclassification. “This poll only tells us what we already knew: that 'net neutrality', like 'privacy' and 'competition' sounds great to consumers," emailed TechFreedom President Berin Szoka, an opponent of reclassification. "The real debate is over whether the FCC should try to impose its own rules, and risk losing in court for the third time, or whether Congress should finally resolve the issue -- and, if so, how exactly these abstract principles should be operationalized." In response to our inquiry, IFBA released the questions asked in the poll. On net neutrality, it noted that in “speaking about rules preventing Internet service providers from blocking or slowing down websites and applications and from charging content companies for ‘prioritized’ downloads, Chairman Wheeler said, ‘We're going to propose rules that say that no blocking (is allowed), no throttling, no paid prioritization.’ Do you agree or disagree with Chairman Tom Wheeler’s statement?” The poll found that Wheeler’s comments suggesting he will propose reclassification in February (see 1501070054), “played well across the nation," said IFBA Executive Director Andrew Shore in the release. "Unfortunately, the term net neutrality has become a political football in an intense partisan debate. What this polling shows is that if you move beyond the partisanship and focus on the issues at hand, net neutrality is about free markets, competition and enabling a level playing field for small businesses by keeping the cable giants and dominant telephone companies from monopolizing the Internet. We must have a free and open Internet, which is something all Americans can agree with." Comptel CEO Chip Pickering, in a statement, echoed the idea the poll showed widespread support for net neutrality rules. “While inside the beltway, many like to divide opinions on the open Internet down party lines, the IFBA’s poll confirms that across the country, a majority of citizens -- whether they’re Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal -- are concerned about the power dominant incumbents can wield over the Internet,” he said. The poll of 868 active voters in the U.S. was conducted Jan. 13 and 14 and has a margin of error of 3.3 percent, said poll results supplied to us.