New Poll: Americans Want Trade Agreements that Do Not Undermine Manufacturing Jobs

Tags Trade

New national poll finds Americans believe that Congress should oppose a trade deal that doesn’t prohibit currency manipulation.

Washington, DC – Ipsos Public Affairs recently conducted a survey on behalf of the Alliance for American Manufacturing to gauge public opinion on international trade agreements and foreign currency manipulation.

Respondents from all political persuasions and across all regions of the country were clear: the Obama Administration and Congress must take steps to prevent currency manipulation when negotiating trade agreements. The potential positive benefits of trade deals also are viewed with much greater skepticism if there is not a level playing field for American jobs or American companies to compete.

Methodology: Ipsos Public Affairs interviewed a nationally representative, randomly selected sample of exactly 1,005 adults through a telephone survey using landlines and cellphones between July 10 and July 15, 2014. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult population in the U.S. been polled. The results of the survey can be found here.

Key takeaways from the survey include:

  • Americans, by a significant margin, believe protecting American manufacturing jobs is more important than gaining access to more products from foreign markets. When it comes to negotiating international trade agreements, an overwhelming majority of Americans place manufacturing jobs ahead of access to foreign goods. (When asked: International trade agreements give Americans access to more foreign-made goods and products but at the risk of American manufacturing jobs being lost. What would you say is more important? 82% believe manufacturing jobs are more important vs. 15% who choose foreign market access as priority.)
  • There is strong support for specific rules preventing currency manipulation in international trade agreements negotiated by the United States. Nationwide, nearly 90% of Americans believe including currency manipulation rules in international trade agreements is important. (When asked: Some foreign countries artificially keep their goods and products cheaper on the international market by manipulating their currency. How important is it to you that any international trade agreements negotiated by the United States have specific rules preventing currency manipulation? 62.3% believe it’s ‘very important’, 26.6% believe it’s ‘somewhat important.’) Support is also bipartisan with 87% of Democrats and more than 90% of Republicans saying it is either ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ important – making this an issue not of partisanship, but about fairness.
  • By a more than 2-1 margin, Americans believe Congress should oppose an international trade deal that doesn’t prohibit currency manipulation, even if the Obama Administration supports it. Americans believe Congress should oppose a trade deal that doesn’t prohibit currency manipulation by a 61% to 28% margin. (When asked: If the Obama administration supports an international trade agreement that does not specifically prohibit currency manipulation, do you think the United States Congress should support or oppose that trade deal? A plurality of Democrats believe Congress should oppose such a deal—48% oppose, 41% support—while a majority of Republicans believe Congress should oppose a trade agreement without rules against currency manipulation—77% oppose, 17% support.)

Conclusions: The poll shows that while currency manipulation is not currently on the minds of many Americans, it is a very salient issue when tied directly to its real-world impacts, such as the potential loss of manufacturing jobs. In a choice between jobs and better access to foreign goods on the marketplace, the survey finds that protecting jobs wins big. Americans ultimately favor fairness, not a marketplace tilted in favor of foreign countries.

This survey demonstrates that efforts to level the playing field for the American companies and workers will be met with strong support from voters. Further, the survey shows that across regions and political affiliations, Americans are sending a clear bipartisan message to policymakers, especially as negotiations continue on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and other trade deals: Prohibiting currency manipulation is of vital importance and should be a key component of any international trade agreement.