More than three-quarters of the country agrees that cyberattacks hurt small and medium-sized businesses and should be taken more seriously. As the 2020 election draws closer, small and medium-sized businesses in Florida have experienced an uptick in cyberattacks and cybersecurity incidents.
Majorities in both political groups say cyberattacks hurt the wealthy (68-31 percent) and business/professional/consulting professionals (72-26 percent) more than they hurt the poor (54-39 percent). And these groups -- in which there is typically a partisan divide -- Democrats (80-11 percent) and Republicans (83-12 percent) -- are almost completely split on the extent of attacks on these groups.
Bottom Line
In 2016, President Obama called for a "cybersecurity strategy" that he says will be "the single most important issue we have to tackle as a nation." The president has cited recent hacking-related incidents in Europe and China as reasons for the need for greater efforts.
But majorities of the public say most cyberattacks are aimed at economic targets such as banks and companies with large tax bills, while two-thirds of Republicans say they often affect everyone, as well as one-third of self-identified Democrats. It remains unclear whether either of these groups represents a sizable population since respondents were not asked if they own a business or professional services provider.
The public overall tends to agree that more government investment is needed to strengthen the defenses against a widespread attack, but the public is divided on whether increased spending makes sense or whether additional measures are needed to reduce the risk of a cyberattack at present. These results suggest that although the public generally agrees that current efforts to protect the network against cyberattacks are adequate, some groups in the public do not feel that the government is spending enough to protect them.
The Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of 500 Adults was conducted on December 26-29, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Fieldwork for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.
Contact 7Nines Technologies today to discuss your cybersecurity posture and data security.