A new survey, conducted by Hart Research and North Star Research has found that an overwhelming majority of people oppose the privatization of the U.S. Postal Service, fearing increasing shipping and postage costs and deteriorating service.
The release comes as the USPS Board of Governors is reportedly considering appointing a Trump administration-backed nominee with strong ties to private sector competitor, FedEx, to succeed Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General. Both President Trump and his senior advisor, Elon Musk, have gone on the record to support privatizing the Postal Service.
The poll, carried out on behalf of the American Postal Workers Union, found that an overwhelming 34 percentage point majority of the representative sample opposes a corporate takeover of the Postal Service. A mere 26 percent of respondents favored privatization while 60 were opposed.
Both Democrats and independents voice strong opposition to a corporate selloff: by a 67-point margin with Democrats and a 40-point margin among independents. Despite the privatization proposal coming from the Trump administration, his own Republican Party voters split on the question, narrowly favoring privatization by 44 percent to 41 percent. However, Republicans who do not identify as MAGA supporters (one third of GOP voters) reject privatization by a robust 55 percent to 32 percent margin.
Just 19 percent say that they would be more likely to vote for a member of Congress who voted to privatize the postal service, while 48 percent are less likely – a 29-point gap.
Rural voters oppose privatization by the same 34-point margin as the country overall, 58 percent to 24 percent, which is surprising given their Republican partisan lean (Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris by 23 points among these voters), and likely reflects the extent to which rural voters rely on USPS services.
Fully 56 percent of voters believe privatization would result in higher prices for mailing letters and packages, while just 17 percent expect prices would improve. By 44 percent to 17 percent they also anticipate a negative impact on the cost of online shopping.
Voters predict that privatization would also have a more negative than positive effect on the quality of postal services in their community (40 percent worse, 25 percent better).
Voters respond very unfavorably to the idea of closing many local post offices (72 percent unfavorable, 10 percent favorable), a likely consequence of privatization.
Voters have a very positive view of USPS, and believe it does a good job or meeting their needs, so privatization does not speak to an appetite for change or address a perceived problem.
Three in four voters (74 percent) has a positive view of the U.S. Postal Service, while just 11 percent hold a negative view. They also view postal workers (81 percent-5 percent) and letter carriers (78 percent-3 percent) extremely favorably.
Fully 82 percent believe USPS is doing an excellent (35 percent) or good (47 percent) job today.
Rather than privatizing services, those surveyed expressed a desire to see expanded services to provide greater income for the USPS. Some 77 percent favor having office supplies available for sale in post offices (15 percent opposed), while 72 percent favor having hunting and fishing licenses available in post offices (15 percent opposed). Meanwhile, 60 percent favor having magazines and newspapers available for sale in post offices (25 percent opposed).