Free trade, Republican’s no like (along with others)

From a poll by the WSJ/NBC reported in October, 2007 comes:

While 60% of respondents said they want the next president and Congress to continue cutting taxes, 32% said it’s time for some tax increases on the wealthiest Americans to reduce the budget deficit and pay for health care.

Can you imagine? They have started to figure out that their pocketbooks matter.

In a December 1999 Wall Street Journal-NBC poll, 37% of Republicans said trade deals had helped the U.S. and 31% said they had hurt, while 26% said they made no difference.
The new poll asked a broader but similar question. It posed two statements to voters. The first was, “Foreign trade has been good for the U.S. economy, because demand for U.S. products abroad has resulted in economic growth and jobs for Americans here at home and provided more choices for consumers.”
The second was, “Foreign trade has been bad for the U.S. economy, because imports from abroad have reduced demand for American-made goods, cost jobs here at home, and produced potentially unsafe products.”
Asked which statement came closer to their own view, 59% of Republicans named the second statement, while 32% pointed to the first.

I don’t think these questions are the best framed. They seem kind of load in that it states “foreign trade” instead of Free Trade, or NAFTA. But, the qualifications I’m sure are what the people responded to.

From Fortune Magazine, January, 2008:
This is a poll of the general public.

With much of the country worried about the state of the economy, many (67%) Americans say they now closely follow news about US trade policy with foreign countries. Americans see the current trade policy as a reason for the economic woes the US is currently facing.
Almost 7 in 10 (68%) Americans believe international trade benefits other countries more than it benefits the United States.
International trade is seen as having a largely negative impact on American workers (78% negative) and the Untied States as a whole (63%).
Eight in ten Americans (79%) feel the US Government has not done enough to help workers who have lost their jobs to increased foreign competition. A majority of Americans would support the following proposed policies aimed at helping workers who have lost their jobs to foreign competition and outsourcing:

Policies with the greatest amount of support include: providing special training programs (90% support), providing tax incentives for companies to relocate to areas where workers have lost their jobs because of foreign imports (84%), allowing imports only from countries that ban child labor (82% support), and allowing imports from countries that meet certain clean air and water standards (78% support).
About two-thirds (64%) of Americans are willing to pay more to keep down foreign competition.

There is a disconnect in the above responses. 90% want training, but in another question about boosting the economy, 41% opposed extending unemployment benefits. Though 67% support public works projects. This shows me that the public has not made the connections between our current trade environment and the economy. But, how about that 64% would pay more to keep down foreign competition. Can you get a more patriotic response? I don’t think the Republican’s had this kind of patriotism in mind.

When it comes to China:
Where a product is manufactured does not impact Americans’ purchasing decisions except when that product is made in China.
Nearly three-in-five (57%) Americans are less likely to buy a product if it is made in China.
When products are manufactured in other areas, such as Eastern Europe (57%), Western Europe (55%), Canada (53%), India (52%), Africa (51%), Mexico (48%), Japan (47%), and South Korea (46%) nearly a majority say it doesn’t matter.

I can ‘t imagine that people are specifically boycotting Chinese made goods. Walmart et al would be in trouble. I think this is more of a gut response.

Over all, the public is waking up and seems more sophisticated in their understanding than I believe the Beltway crowd is willing to accept. But, I believe some work needs to be done so that they connect the dots of the US economy as a function of trade policy. I would like to see a de-emphasis of the fear and a disconnecting of foreign trade equals free trade policy. I really don’t believe anyone is against trading, they just have a major problem with the current rules and the referees.