Some 46% of likely voters want the government to institute price controls, but Americans are divided over whether such controls would raise or lower consumer prices.
That’s according to the results of The Center Square’s Voters’ Voice Poll, conducted in conjunction with Noble Predictive Insights. Likely voters were asked if the federal government should establish price controls on groceries: 46% said yes, while 41% said no.
The poll further asked that if the federal government got involved in establishing price controls on groceries, if prices would change. Among likely voters, 45% said price controls would push costs higher. And 41% said government price controls would reduce prices.
As Americans have struggled with higher grocery costs, including the cost of meat, producers have faced higher fuel, feed, grain and hay costs, pushing up operational costs.
In August, Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled her plan to go after what she called “price gouging” at grocery stores and to cap the costs of certain prescription medications.
“Most businesses are creating jobs, contributing to our economy, and playing by the rules, but some are not. And that’s just not right,” Harris said. “As president, I will go after the bad actors and I will work to pass the first ever federal ban on price gouging on food.”
Under Harris’ plan, the Federal Trade Commission would impose “harsh penalties” on companies that break whatever the new limits on price gouging would be. Harris did not specify what the price limits or how harsh the penalties would be.
Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee for president, compared Harris’ plan to Soviet-era price controls.
“If you think things are expensive now, they will get 100 times WORSE if Kamala gets four years as President,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Under her plan, Kamala will implement SOVIET Style Price Controls.”
Price controls are government regulations on wages or prices or their rates of change. Governments can impose such regulations on a broad range of goods and services or, more commonly, on a market for a single good. Governments can either control the rise of prices with price ceilings, such as rent controls, or put a floor under prices with policies such as the minimum wage.
U.S. leaders have used both over the years. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the first federal minimum wage into place in 1938 amid the Great Depression.
President Richard Nixon put in place a series of price controls to tame inflation in the 1970s. Among them: A 90-day freeze on wages and prices after the withdrawal of the dollar from the gold standard.
Most economists don’t like the idea.
“Economists generally oppose most price controls, believing that they produce costly shortages and gluts,” according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve. “The Chicago Booth School regularly surveys prominent economists on questions of interest, including price controls. Most economists do not believe that 1970s-style price controls could successfully limit U.S. inflation over a 12-month horizon, and many of those economists cite high costs of controls.”
Inflation rose to 40year highs during the Biden-Harris administration.
Noble Predictive Insights conducted the poll from Oct 2-4, 2024. The sample included 2,560 respondents comprised of 1,135 Republicans, 1,162 Democrats, and 263 True Independents (Independents who, when asked if they leaned toward one of the major parties, chose neither). Of the full sample of registered voters, 2,290 were qualified as “likely voters.”
The poll weighted each party – Republicans, Democrats, and True Independents – independently. Additional weighting variables include age, region, gender, education, and race/ethnicity.
The margin of error was +/- 1.9% for registered voters and +/-2.1% for likely voters.
