SLU/YouGov Poll: Missouri Voters Side with Hawley and Support Ban on Foreign-Owned Social Media Platforms by 8% Margin

04/03/2025

 Republicans and Democrats disagree about the ban but agree about social media’s negative impact on society.

TikTok is set to be banned in the United States on April 5 unless a deal is reached to separate the app from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or President Donald Trump issues another order delaying the ban. The ban stems from legislation passed by Congress last year, which would ban TikTok or force its sale to a U.S. company. President Trump has voiced optimism that a resolution will be found, saying he would “like to see TikTok remain alive.”

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley has been a vocal proponent of banning the app, citing national security concerns. “The reason to ban TikTok in this country is that it is a spying apparatus,” Hawley said on the U.S. Senator floor. He described the platform as “a back door for the Chinese Communist Party to track the keystrokes, the information of every American who has the app on their phone.”

In the last Congress, Hawley introduced the No TikTok on United States Devices Act.

Missouri voters appear to align with Sen. Hawley on foreign-owned social media platforms. The February 2025 SLU/YouGov Poll asked 900 likely Missouri voters whether they favored or opposed: “The federal government banning access to social media platforms owned by other countries (for example, TikTok).” Forty-six percent of voters favored this policy, 34% opposed it, and 20% stated they were not sure. However, different groups of voters have varying opinions.

“Missourians are divided on whether the federal government should ban foreign-owned social media platforms,” said Ashley Burle, Ph.D., associate director of the Saint Louis University/YouGov Poll and interim director of graduate admissions for Saint Louis University’s School of Education. “While a majority of Missouri’s older voters and Republicans favor such bans, younger voters, Black Americans, and Democrats are far less supportive.”

Sixty-two of Republican voters favored such bans, compared to just 30% of Democrats and 39% of Independents. Republican voters in Missouri were also less likely to report being members of TikTok, with only 20% saying they were members of the platform, compared to 35% of Democratic voters. 

Across Party Lines, Missouri Voters See Social Media as a Negative Force

Despite partisan differences about a potential TikTok ban, Missouri voters agree that social media has not positively impacted society. In the February 2025 SLU/YouGov Poll, voters were asked: “Do you believe the following advances in technology have had more positive or negative effects on society…?” listing technologies, such as personal computers, social media, and artificial intelligence. Among the technologies listed, social media received the lowest positive ratings and the highest negative ratings:

• Personal Computers: 79% positive, 14% neither positive nor negative, 5% negative, 2% not sure
• The Internet: 64% positive, 20% neither positive nor negative, 14% negative, 2% not sure
• Smart phones: 52% positive, 19% neither positive nor negative, 28% negative, 1% not sure
• Social Media: 13% positive, 23% neither positive nor negative, 62% negative, 2% not sure
• Artificial Intelligence (e.g., ChatGPT or Google Gemini): 16% positive, 29% neither positive nor negative, 41% negative, 14% not sure

“Negative views toward social media were bipartisan,” said Steven Rogers, Ph.D., SLU/YouGov Poll Director and associate professor of political science at Saint Louis University. “At least 55% of each Democratic, Republican, and Independent voters said that social media has more negative than positive effects on society.”

Missouri Voters Support Policies to Restrict Social Media Access for Children

Missouri voters also express support for policies to restrict social media usage among children and students. The SLU/YouGov Poll found most Missouri voters believe that children younger than 12 years old should not be legally allowed to access social media, and at least 81% of voters support public schools prohibiting students from accessing social media on school internet networks — unless instructed by the teacher for educational purposes — in each elementary, middle, and high schools.

“Following the U.S. Surgeon General’s warning about the mental health risks associated with social media in adolescents, it is evident that addressing these concerns is important,” said Burle. “Our poll found there is strong bipartisan agreement for teaching students about new technologies, with at least 83% of Republican, Democratic, and Independent voters favoring a requirement for public schools to educate students about the negative effects of social media.”

Top-line survey results can be found here. Results with demographic and party cross-tabs can be found here. The margin of error for the full survey sample is ± 3.64%.

For more SLU/YouGov Poll public safety findings, see the SLU/YouGov Poll Technology Issue Summary.

The February 2025 SLU/YouGov Poll was funded by the PRiME Center in SLU’s School of Education.

About YouGov

Saint Louis University has partnered with YouGov to conduct its annual survey of Missouri voters. YouGov conducts surveys for multiple academic institutions and is the primary, trusted survey firm for media organizations, including CBS News and The Economist. An independent Pew Research Center study of online survey firms in 2016 further concluded that YouGov “consistently outperforms competitors.”

About Saint Louis University

Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Catholic institutions. Rooted in Jesuit values and its pioneering history as the first university west of the Mississippi River, SLU offers more than 15,200 students a rigorous, transformative education of the whole person. At the core of the University’s diverse community of scholars is SLU’s service-focused mission, which challenges and prepares students to make the world a better, more just place.