Most Agree With Trump’s Temporary Cutback in Regulating Small Business
Voters come down strongly on the side of small businesses, with most in favor of President Trump’s plan to loosen government regulation on them while they recover from the coronavirus lockdown.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey shows that 58% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of Trump’s decision to temporarily limit government regulation of small businesses to help them bounce back. Just 26% are opposed, while 17% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
The president’s action has triggered criticism from some. While 70% of Republicans and 59% of voters not affiliated with either major party agree with the decision to temporarily limit government regulation of small businesses, just 44% of Democrats share that view.
Seventy-six percent (76%) of all voters agree, though, that small businesses are hurt by government regulations more than big businesses are. Only nine percent (9%) think big businesses are hurt more. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure.
Sixty-seven percent (67%) believe most big businesses take advantage of the political process to hurt smaller competitors. Just 13% disagree, with 19% undecided.
Findings for both these questions have changed little in surveys in recent years.
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted May 20-21, 2020 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.
The number of Americans citing lost jobs in their immediate family thanks to the coronavirus has fallen back to the level seen earlier in the crisis.
Democrats are only slightly less likely than Republicans and unaffiliated voters to think small businesses are hurt more than big ones by government regulations. But they believe more strongly that big businesses take advantage of the political process to hurt smaller competitors.
Government workers (48%) are a lot less supportive of temporarily limiting regulation of small businesses than entrepreneurs (60%) and those who work in the private sector (63%) are.
Generally speaking, sizable majorities in nearly every demographic category believe government regulations hurt small businesses more than big businesses.
Seventy-seven percent (77%) of self-designated conservative voters favor a temporary halt to government regulation of small businesses, compared to 51% of moderates and 37% of liberals.
Most voters in general support Trump’s temporary freeze on legal immigration to give Americans a better chance in the post-coronavirus job market. Most Democrats do not.
The coronavirus has done little to dent voters’ optimism about America’s future, and most believe the country will be great again.
Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.
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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted May 20-21, 2020 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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