New Survey: Most Voters are Civic Innovation YIMBYs
Innovative tech services are changing the way people navigate everyday life. With a click on an app, you can call up a car ride, groceries, or a virtual doctor’s visit.
These kinds of services — delivery and sharing services, new transportation modes, prop-tech housing apps, and telemedicine services — serve as a powerful tool for bridging equity and accessibility gaps while also fueling local economies. And during the COVID-19 pandemic — where physical distancing was critical to slowing the spread of the virus — we all witnessed the valuable role that tech services played.
And yet, many cities and states grapple with a small number of people lodging complaints about new tech-driven services. For example, San Diego recently rolled out new stricter e-scooter regulations in response to pedestrian complaints; noise complaints in Plano, Texas are leading the Council to propose new rules on short-term rentals; and restaurant complaints led many cities to implement delivery commission caps.
Many times, complaints about these services come from a small vocal group of city residents; Tampa found that nearly one-third of complaints to the city about shared e-scooters came from just one person. But when those complaints lead cities to adopt new roles, they can hinder services’ ability to address unmet needs.
In order to find out whether most voters greet new tech services with a NIMBY or YIMBY mentality, we recently commissioned a Morning Consult survey of 2,210 U.S. adults on their use of different tech-based services, stances on commonly proposed regulation, and their interest in future technology.
Here’s what we learned:
A majority of respondents (55%) are “Tech YIMBYs” and are optimistic about the potential for new technology and services to become available in their communities. Of the 34% of respondents who expressed concerns with new services, 23% said they were still open to them. Democratic voters (29%) and residents of big cities (27%) were most likely to be “very supportive” of new technologies.
When asked their views of future services like delivery drones, sidewalk delivery robots, flying cars, or autonomous vehicles, 69 percent of adults supported the availability of delivery drones in their neighborhoods, with 63 percent favoring sidewalk delivery robots and half of the voters supporting autonomous vehicle testing.
Consumers’ use of tech services is on the rise post-covid
Voters said they were most likely to have used an app to deliver food (54%), groceries (41%), and have a telemedicine appointment (41%). And adults living in urban or suburban areas consistently utilized those same services to a relatively higher degree than those living in small towns or rural areas.
There’s no denying the pandemic’s impact on utilization. With stay-at-home orders, school closures, and other social distancing recommendations, many people were forced to quickly adapt to a new normal. Our survey shows that tech services that offered convenience and greater connectivity to essential goods were used more often now than before the pandemic.
In particular, voters said that their use of telemedicine apps (21%), apps to deliver food (20%), and apps to deliver groceries (20%) was more frequent post-pandemic. Urban and suburban voters were also more likely to leverage these lifeline services than those in less populated areas as they are more easily accessible.
Majorities say they want more availability of services — with reasonable regulation
As some survey respondents begin to embrace new online services, many are eager to see more availability of services in their communities. Among the six tech services asked about in the survey, adults were more likely to say they would like to see more availability rather than less availability of telehealth and teledentistry, bike and scooter sharing services, and peer-to-peer car-sharing services.
And for all six categories, adults were either interested in more services becoming available, or were generally satisfied with current availability, as opposed to preferring less availability. Similar patterns hold for urban and suburban voters whose utilization aligned with a desire for more or at minimum the current availability of services.
While there is a growing interest in more tech-driven services becoming widely available, the survey also captures adults’ views on commonly proposed regulations. Currently, there are debates regarding the benefits structure for gig economy workers and whether they should be classified as independent contractors or full-time employees.
Nearly half (48%) of adults agreed that our current wage and benefits system does not sufficiently support independent contractors and should be updated to reflect today’s reality for both families and workers.
Among those who disapprove of the current benefits structure, 55% are Democrats, 48% are Independents, and 38% are Republicans.
As mentioned previously, during the pandemic many cities imposed caps on the commission charges that delivery services could charge to local restaurants. And while many delivery caps have lapsed in cities across the country, a few remain in place.
While there has been some support (35%) for the proposed regulations on food and delivery services, adults are more likely to oppose (43%) these proposals as they will place the burden on consumers by raising the total cost of delivery.
This viewpoint is most evident among adults in suburban (46%) and rural (47%) areas who are farther distances from nearby stores and restaurants.
Overall, the survey highlights voters’ support for reasonable regulation, greater availability of services, and fairness for consumers, workers, and local businesses.
So, how should city and state policymakers respond to these findings in their policies?
Government leaders can proactively harness the potential of emerging technologies while implementing regulations that align with community values with three practical steps:
First, listen for the quiet but content voices. When a new tech service starts to gain traction, those who value the service are less likely to voice it than those who have concerns. Policymakers should aim to survey the entire public in order to make informed decisions on how to effectively regulate the service.
Second, adopt a “Yes, And” approach. There are transformative benefits to responsible technological innovation and regulators have a critical role in making this happen. Rather than adopting a vetocracy mindset, local policymakers’ instinct should be to say yes to innovation and simultaneously put smart rules in place. Regulators should set guardrails and policies that allow people to reap the benefits of a new service and rein in harmful practices.
Borrow from what is working. Policymakers should borrow regulatory ideas that have proven to be effective. For example, we’re now seeing a rise of new pool- and home-experience sharing services — but with many cities having pioneered short-term rental regulation for Airbnb and VRBO, cities can first see if those rules fit the new services too.
Tech innovations are changing the daily lives of many communities and city and state leaders can take smart steps to make sure technology keeps making cities better.
The Chamber of Progress (progresschamber.org) is a new center-left tech industry policy coalition promoting technology’s progressive future. We work to ensure that all Americans benefit from technological leaps and that the tech industry operates responsibly and fairly.
Our work is supported by our corporate partners, but our partners do not sit on our board of directors and do not have a vote on or veto over our positions. We do not speak for individual partner companies and remain true to our stated principles even when our partners disagree.
