Voters Strongly Support Biden’s Strike Force on Corporate Price Gouging
By Lew Blank
Rising prices are top of mind for voters. Data for Progress has consistently found that inflation, particularly food costs, is one of voters’ primary concerns heading into the November 2024 elections. Recent polling also found that when voters are asked whom they blame "a great deal" for high grocery prices, corporate price gouging rises to the top, whether “corporate food manufacturers” are named broadly (46%) or “food manufacturers like PepsiCo, FritoLay, and General Mills” are named specifically (44%).
To confront corporate price gouging and lower costs for American consumers, the Biden administration recently launched a new task force to take on corporations that unfairly and illegally raise prices on consumers. This “strike force” will be co-chaired by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and will focus on rooting out anti-competitive, unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent business practices that raise prices on goods and services such as health care, food, and housing.
New Data for Progress polling finds that voters strongly agree that the U.S. “should do more to take on corporations that unfairly and illegally raise prices on consumers.” Seventy-seven percent of voters — including 87% of Democrats, 80% of Independents, and 65% of Republicans — agree with this statement, while only 16% of voters believe we should not do more to take on corporate price gouging “because the government should not interfere in the private sector.”
Along these lines, 75% of voters support the Biden administration’s strike force to take on corporations that unfairly and illegally raise prices, including 89% of Democrats, 76% of Independents, and 59% of Republicans.
Broadly, this polling shows that the Biden administration’s strike force is a highly popular initiative to deal with one of the top issues concerning voters.
Lew Blank (@LewBlank) is a communications strategist at Data for Progress.