New study shows more Americans want TikTok to stay as sale deadline approaches

The fate of TikTok in the US has been uncertain for a while now, with a sale deadline approaching in the next couple weeks. While the uncertainty remains, public opinion seems to have changed on the banning of the app, a new study shows. More Americans now oppose the ban as of March 2025, compared to two years ago. The study also found that more Republican and Republican-leaning voters were now also in favour of dropping the TikTok ban.

The study conducted by Pew Research Center involved a survey of over 5,000 adults in the US between February 24 and March 5. It found that only 34% of the respondents supported the ban of TikTok, compared to 50% in 2023, which was when a similar study was conducted. It also noted that while 22% opposed the ban in 2023, 32% opposed it this year. Similarly, in 2023, 60% of Republican and Republican-leaning voters supported the ban, but now that number has dropped to 30%. Republicans, however, are still more likely to support the ban than Democrats, the study also showed.

As for those who use and don't use the app, 12% of TikTok users supported the ban, while 45% of people who don’t use the app were in favor of it. Overall, the number of Americans who believe TikTok is a national security threat has also decreased from 59% to 49%. 

The study comes less than two weeks before the deadline for the sale of TikTok approaches. ByteDance has been asked to sell the app to an American company by April 5 to continue operating in the country, but the Chinese company does not seem to be in favor of that deal. In the past, Microsoft, Perplexity AI, Oracle, and some others have shown interest in buying TikTok.