Poll: Most GOP voters support net neutrality

Nearly two-thirds of Republican voters support reinstating net neutrality regulations when presented with detailed arguments for and against the move, according to a new survey from the University of Maryland shared exclusively with The Washington Post.

The findings show a contrast between Republican voters and their elected representatives on Capitol Hill, where Republicans have been seeking to block a Democratic nominee whose confirmation would likely pave the way for the return of the rules. For the poll, the University of Maryland Program for Public Consultation provided respondents with a policy briefing laying out arguments on both sides of the net neutrality debate and then asked them which they found more persuasive and would ultimately support. The rules would block internet service providers from throttling or favoring certain content.

The poll found 65% of Republicans favored reinstating net neutrality regulations, while 68% of independents and 82% of Democrats said the same.

Only 32% of Republican voters said they were opposed, while 2% said they did not know. “Clearly, this is one more illustration of how there is not a correspondence between public opinion and policy,” said Steven Kull, a senior research associate at the school. The survey also found that both Democratic and Republican respondents found the arguments outlined in favor of reinstating net neutrality to be more persuasive than the case against it.

While 74% of Republicans said they found the case in favor “very convincing” or “somewhat convincing,” that figure dropped to 57% for the argument against. “We think that this gives you a much clearer picture of how people feel about this question” and “this ensures that they hear both sides of it,” Kull said of the survey design.

And he said they felt compelled to revisit these questions given that the debate is entering a pivotal stretch, with the pending nomination of Gigi Sohn for the Federal Communications Commission raising the specter of Democrats at the agency reviving the rules. “This is an inflection point,” Kull said.