A new survey shows likely voters back policies to grow manufacturing.
Americans want the government to do more to grow American manufacturing — and they overwhelming support the policies to do it.
A new nationwide poll conducted by Morning Consult for the Alliance for American Manufacturing shows that 70% of likely voters think the federal government should be doing more to bring factories back to the United States. And Americans are even more supportive of specific policies, with 78% agreeing that the federal government should be required to buy American-made with its own purchases; 82% saying the government should offer incentives to reshore production; and 87% agreeing that the government should do more to crack down on unfair trade.
But there was an interesting tidbit in the data. Although there have been a flurry of factory announcements in the past two years — including $479 billion worth of investments in industries like electric vehicles, semiconductors, and clean energy — only 36% of respondents said they had heard about new factories coming to the United States.
AAM President Scott Paul said that finding shows there is “a real opening for Congress and the Biden administration to continuously emphasize the progress that has been made and follow through on additional manufacturing, trade and Buy America policies.”
Indeed, there’s lots of potential to enact new policy that will grow manufacturing — and voters back that policy. For example, voters overwhelmingly (76%) agree the federal government should be able to prohibit American companies from investing in manufacturing abroad when U.S. security is at risk. Meanwhile, 59% of poll respondents favored reforming the “de minimis” loophole that has been exploited by Chinese fast fashion companies like SHEIN to avoid tariffs and U.S. Customs enforcement.
“American voters have made it clear that the federal government must do more to bring valuable manufacturing jobs back to the United States,” he said. “Voters support stringent measures on China, including tariffs, outbound investment bans, and reforming the de minimis law — measures that Congress and the administration can and should act on.”