Tech policy and the midterm elections

Voters in elections tend to focus on topline policy issues such as the economy and health care, not tech policy, which enjoys considerable bipartisan agreement and offers little opportunity to highlight differences with opponents. Network neutrality internet regulation is an exception, as Democratic lawmakers use it both as symbolic politics at the federal and state level and as a wedge issue to bring millennial voters, a group with historically low turnout in midterms, to the polls. While it is driven by different political frustrations with the tech industry, momentum for updated consumer online privacy legislation has emerged and offers a win-win opportunity for both parties in Congress. The parties’ respective tech policy accomplishments to date are consistent with their stated positions from the 2016 election platforms, Republican lawmakers with promoting private investment in next-generation broadband networks and Democratic lawmakers with defending internet regulation.