PRINCETON, NJ -- Americans say there is too much (47%) rather than too little (26%) government regulation of business and industry, with 24% saying the amount of regulation is about right. Americans have been most likely to say there is too much regulation of business over the last several years, but prior to 2006, Americans' views on the issue of government regulation of business were more mixed.

The collapse of Lehman Bros., the failure of the secondary mortgage market, and other business problems in 2008 and 2009 might have been expected to increase Americans' desire for more government control of business and industry. But that was not the case. Americans' views that there is too much government regulation in fact began to rise in 2009, perhaps in response to the new Obama administration and new business regulation policies such as Dodd-Frank, reaching an all-time high of 50% in 2011 before settling down slightly this year to 47%.

There has been little change since 2003 in the percentage of Americans saying there is too little regulation of business. The changes that have occurred in recent years have involved shifts between the percentages choosing the "too much" and "about right" alternatives.

Democrats and Republicans Have Widely Divergent Views of Business Regulation

Republicans and Democrats, like their respective parties' presidential candidates, differ sharply on what government's role in regulating business should be. More than three-quarters of Republicans say there is too much government regulation. One in four Democrats agree there is too much regulation, while less than half (42%) say there is too little regulation and 32% say the current amount is about right. Independents tilt toward the view that there is too much regulation rather than too little or the right amount -- basically reflecting the overall national average.

Republicans' views that there is too much regulation began to rise in 2007, and jumped significantly in 2009 after Barack Obama took office. The 77% of Republicans who say there is too much regulation this year is 37 percentage points higher than in 2006, even though this year's percentage is slightly lower than last year's 84%, the highest on record. Democrats, on the other hand, have become slightly less likely to say there is too much regulation of business over the past five years.

Implications

Despite what some observers call a pattern of excess by big business that helped lead to the 2008 recession, Americans continue to say there is too much rather than too little government regulation of business. In fact, over the 15 times since 1993 that Gallup has asked this question, never have more than a third of Americans said there is too little regulation of business and industry.

The increase in the "too much" viewpoint since 2008 largely results from Republicans' increased agreement with this point -- most likely reflecting their reaction to Democratic President Obama's election and his policies once in office.

All in all, the results suggest that a call from Mitt Romney for a reduction in government regulations and red tape may strike a more responsive chord from the average American, particularly independent Americans, than a call from Obama for more regulation.