ABC News has tracked the popularity of GOP Senator Ted Cruz in the days following the midterm elections. He has largely maintained a 50% favorability rating as measured by the number of positive comments about him. However, in the past several days, his popularity has plunged. The percentage of negative comments being posted about the senator has risen to 61% while his positives dropped to 34%. The cause for the reversal of popularity has been his position on “net neutrality”.
President Obama has weighed into the FCC’s proposed plan to sell high speed internet traffic lanes to the highest bidders. Obama, rather than to direct the FCC to abandon the plan, has suggested that to preserve the “net neutrality” status quo, the Depression-era Telecommunications Act be applied to internet service providers (ISPs). This will require the FCC reclassify ISPs as utility companies. In response, Cruz likened the Obama proposal as the Obamacare of internet.
Cruz does not favor a strict hard line of that mandates all internet traffic be treated the same. The stand has proven to be deeply unpopular with the Facebook crowd. That said, the issue extends well beyond Facebook. When the FCC began accepting public comment on their plan to end net neutrality, the comments drew public opposition at a rate of 99.9% against.
This suggests that the GOP might lose the momentum on their mandate for change if they oppose net neutrality. Sadly, the president’s solution requires the introduction a heavy regulation into the internet. As Obamacare has proven, the regulation will be far reach beyond merely protecting internet traffic.