Research

Voters clearly see too many federal government regulations as more of a threat than too few. By a margin of 55 to 36 percent, voters are more concerned that the federal government has too many regulations that will hurt the economy, rather than too few regulations to hold private businesses accountable. Republicans are more concerned about too many regulations by 77 to 16 percent, as are Independents by 55 to 35 percent. Only Democrats are concerned about too few regulations by 56 to 36 percent.

Voter concern over too many federal government regulations is found among all age, income, and education levels – including a majority of all union households.

This concern is shared among union households:

• 53 to 39 percent among all union households.
• 57 to 34 percent among private sector unions.
• 48 to 44 percent among public sector unions.

This concern is shared among all age groups:

• 49 to 43 percent among ages 18-34;
• 61 to 30 percent among ages 35-49;
• 55 to 40 percent among ages 50-64;
• 52 to 33 percent among ages 65+.

This concern is shared among all income levels:

• 55 to 35 percent among those making less than $50k;
• 51 to 42 percent among those making between $50k - $100k;
• 63 to 31 percent among those making more than $100k.

This concern is shared among all education levels:

• 62 to 26 percent among high school graduates;
• 54 to 39 percent among those with some college education;
• 51 to 41 percent among college graduates;
• 55 to 36 percent among post-college graduates.

This concern is shared among all non-urban voters:

• 67 to 25 percent among rural voters;
• 59 to 33 percent among small town voters;
• 53 to 38 percent among suburban voters;
• Urban voters are split (siding with too few regulations by 48 to 45 percent).

With the exception of Hispanic voters who are split on this issue, a majority of the following voters believe there are too few federal government regulations to hold the private sector accountable. Yet there are still significant percentages of traditional Democratic voters who say there are too many regulations:

• 56 to 36 percent among voters who support raising the debt limit without preconditions.
• 55 to 35 percent among voters who approve of President Obama’s job performance.
• 53 to 39 percent among voters who hold a favorable opinion of Democrats in Congress.
• 53 to 38 percent among African-American voters.
• 52 to 39 percent among voters who hold a favorable opinion of government employee unions.
• By 47 to 46 percent, Hispanic voters narrowly believe there are too many regulations.

This survey of 1000 registered voters was conducted April 17-20, 2011. Respondents were selected randomly from a random-digit-dialing sample including both cell phone and landline telephone numbers. All respondents confirmed that they are registered to vote in the county in which they live. Quotas were set for state, age, and race based on state registration and previous turnout. The sample was minimally weighted to reflect the current Pollster.com Democratic advantage of four points over Republicans. This sample has 34 percent Democrat, 32 percent Independent, and 30 percent Republican.

The margins of error for responses with an even split – 50 percent for one response and 50 percent for another response – is ±3.10 percent for the full sample, ±5.66 percent for Republicans, ±5.43 percent for Independents, and ±5.31 percent for Democrats. The margin of error is smaller when one response receives a higher level of support. For example, the margin of error is ±2.68 percent when 75 percent of respondents in the full sample choose one response and 25 percent choose another response.