OpEd: Americans Are Voting for Broadband
BY BRUCE MEHLMAN
September 10, 2020 at 5:00 am ET
For most of us, it’s hard to imagine having spent the last six months without access to reliable, high-speed broadband internet. But for at least 18 million Americans, that’s been their everyday reality – limited options for staying in touch with family and friends, lost work opportunities, no connectivity for distance learning and no way to benefit from telehealth visits.
The urgent need to close the “Digital Divide” by filling the gaps in high-speed internet access – in terms of availability, affordability and accessibility – came through loud and clear in a new Morning Consult poll of American voters, commissioned by the Internet Innovation Alliance. Over 90 percent said that the current lack of universal broadband access is a problem, with 63 percent calling it a “major” problem. Three in five American voters (62 percent) want Congress to fix the problem “immediately.”
Broadband has become increasingly important over the past 20 years, but what is finally pushing this change to the top of the list of priorities? According to IIA’s poll, it’s the challenges arising from the pandemic and, in particular, the impact of distance learning, as more than 55 million students and teachers have moved to distance learning at least part time. Twelve million students are without home broadband, according to the Senate Joint Economic Committee (15 million, according to Common Sense Media), which means that more than one-fifth of students are falling behind their digitally enabled peers.