TikTok ban poll uncovers age, party divisions

Nearly half of Americans support a potential ban on TikTok, but there are clear divisions between age groups and political affiliation.

That was the finding of a new Wall Street Journal poll published on Monday, as momentum is building in Congress to ban the Chinese-owned social media platform due to security concerns. 

The poll found that 46 percent of respondents said they support a nationwide ban on the social media platform, while 35 percent of those surveyed said they’d oppose the measure. 

Along party lines, 62 percent of registered Republican respondents supported the ban, compared to just 33 percent of registered Democrats.

By age group, 59 percent of respondents who are 65 years of age or older said they support a nationwide ban on the social media platform, while 37 percent of respondents who are between the ages of 18-34 years were on board with a ban.

Among racial groups, about half of white respondents backed a TikTok ban, compared to 42 percent of Hispanic respondents and 35 percent of Black respondents.

The poll comes as multiple state governments and Congress in recent months have implemented TikTok on government devices, citing national security concerns due its Chinese owner ByteDance, and potential links to China’s communist party.

Calls for a national ban on the platform have picked up steam in recent months, after the then-Trump administration’s failed attempt to bar the social media platform in 2020.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was grilled before the House Energy and Commerce Committee last month, with lawmakers expressing concerns ranging from national security threats, data privacy, the spread of misinformation, and the safety for minors.

The Biden administration recently demanded ByteDance sell its stake in the company or prepare to be banned in the U.S.

The Wall Street Journal poll was conducted from April 11 to 17 with a total of 1,500 respondents participating in the survey. The poll’s margin of error is 2.5 percentage points.