76% of Americans have a positive impression of Amazon
President Trump has been attacking Amazon and Jeff Bezos, its CEO, over Amazon’s use of the United States Postal Service for delivering packages. Americans are taking Amazon’s side. Though most Americans don’t have an opinion of Bezos, those who do are favorable – a major difference between the opinion of Amazon’s head and Facebook’s leader, Mark Zuckerberg.
In the latest Economist/YouGov Poll, Americans gave Amazon high marks – as high as those they give the Postal Service. Americans also like Microsoft and Google. Facebook, not so much.
If President Trump is going to make his case against Amazon, he needs to convince more Americans that Amazon is getting a break from the Postal Service, something which he has tried to do in his tweets. But the public believes that the Postal Service is, in fact, making a profit on delivering goods sold by Amazon, though Republicans are less likely than Democrats to say this is the case.
Most don’t think Amazon should get a break in fees – or have to pay more than the rest of the public – when it comes to payments for packages. A majority believes Amazon should pay the same amount as everyone else.
Another area where many Americans disagree with the President is whether or not online retailers should be collecting sales tax. 34% say they should, while 38% say they should not. There is not very much partisan disagreement on this. Though Democrats slightly support sales tax on internet sales (40% to 33%), Republicans are evenly divided (37% in favor, 39% opposed). Of course, collecting sales taxes on every item sold would increase prices for those who buy online. If sales tax is collected, more think it should be the state tax where the consumer lives than think it should be based on where the seller is.
As for the President’s attacks on Amazon, the public finds them inappropriate by nearly three to one. While more Republicans say they are appropriate, a quarter disagree.
After all, three in four Republicans have a favorable opinion of the company, though even more have a favorable opinion of the President.
