What did Americans think about trade in 2007?

Americans are worried about foreign imports, and support for liberal trading rules is not what it once was.  But it isn't insignificant either.  Also, while people aren't as supportive of liberal trading rules as they once were, several of the surveys suggest this was not the most important issue to them in 2007.

The table below lists a number of polls conducted in the U.S. during 2007 that asked questions about about trade issues. 

This is not a complete list of surveys, but includes what I was able to find on a holiday afternoon.  I often searched poll results looking only for the key word "trade" and thus may have missed relevant questions, or polls that had relevant questions.  For example, questions framed using other words, such as "globalization," might have be underrepresented.

The survey doesn't include polls dealing with related issues such as foreign direct investment, immigration, the Federal budget deficit, and so on.  This is a real limitation of the list.  For example, I think much of today's trade angst is driven by concerns over inequality of economic outcomes in the U.S.  So the Pew Center's study of public perceptions of inequality (A Nation of "Haves" and "Have-Nots"?, September 13, 2007) is very relevant.  The Pew Center's study on changing core U.S. values (Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007, March 22, 2007) may also be relevant.

The list only includes polls I was able to find that had relatively detailed summaries of results publically available on the Internet.  I probably haven't found all of these, or even necessarily all the important ones.

Organization	Target	Survey period	Link to results	Notes
Pew Center	U.S. adults (over 18)	Dec 6-10, 2006	link to web page	This poll actually was administered and reported in Dec 2006.  Included here for its relevance - public opinion on cusp of 2007 - and interesting analysis.  Look for link to additional material at bottom of web page.
Bloomberg/LA Times	U.S. adults	Jan 13-16, 2007	pdf file with survey results report	Respondents tended to think free international trade hurts rather than helps the economy (41% to 28%).
Bloomberg/LA Times	Republican and Democratic National Committee Members	Feb 13-26, 2007	pdf file with survey results report	Few members saw fair trade or ensuring other countries practiced fair trade as an important issue distinguishing the parties.
Foreign Affairs - Public Agenda	U.S. adults	Feb 21 - Mar 1	Link to press release and report	Only 1% felt the trade deficit was the worst problem facing the U.S. in its dealings with the rest of the world.  28% give the U.S. a "C" in avoiding trade agreements that harm it.  26% gave A or B and 26% gave D or F.  17% think the U.S. benefits from trade more than other countries, 31% think other countries benefit more, and 50% are unsure.
NBC/WSJ	U.S. adults	Mar 2-5, 2007	pdf file with survey results report	Free trade agreements have hurt rather than helped the U.S. (46 to 28).  Americans prefer to reduce (foreign?) barriers to our goods and attract qualified immigrants rather than to reduce domestic trade restrictions and limit the number of legal immigrants - badly phrased question - (49% to 40%)
Bloomberg/LA Times	U.S. adults	Apr 5-9, 2007	pdf file with survey results	Foreign trade policy relatively low on the list of things Republicans, Democrats, and all voters, think need to be addressed by Presidential candidates.
Pew Study	U.S. adults (over 18)	Apr 23-May 6, 2007	web site with links to detailed findings	One of a set of polls on global public attitudes in many countries.  59% of U.S. respondents have a positive view of trade, 45% of foreign companies, and 70% of free markets.  More detail in the report.
WSJ/NBC	U.S. adults	Jul 27-30	pdf file with poll results	Respondents are slightly more confident that Democrats will look after their trade interests better than Republicans (28% to 25%).  23% of respondents felt that the two parties would be about the same.  This is quite a change from the period 1990-2004 when respondents felt strongly that Republicans would do better.
Bloomberg/LA Times	Adults in Iowa, NH,SC	Sep 6-10, 2007	pdf file with poll results	NH Democrats tend to like a candidate who favors FTAs, while Iowa and SC Democrats do not.  NH and SC Republicans tend to like a candidate who favors FTAs, while Iowa Republicans are evenly divided)  Large proportions (~20%) don't know their answer to this question.
Foreign Affairs - Public Agenda	US adults (over 18)	Sep 2007	Link to the press release and the full report.	A negligible percentage felt the trade deficit was the most important problem facing the U.S. in its dealings with the rest of the world.  31% give the U.S. a "C" in avoiding trade agreements that harm it.  23% gave it an A or B, and 29% gave it a D or F.  15% think the U.S. benefits from trade more than other countries, 34% think other countries benefit more, and 49% are unsure.
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation	U.S. adults	Oct 12-14, 2007	Secondary source: Link to pollingreport.com	46% see foreign trade as an opportunity, 45% as a threat, 5% as both
Bloomberg/LA Times	US adults	Oct 19-22, 2007	pdf file with report on poll results	Respondents tended to think free international trade has hurt rather than helped the U.S. economy (47% to 29%).  Change from similar question in January appears to be due to decline in those who say "no difference" or "don't know."
German Marshall Fund	U.S. adults (over 18)	Sep 10-24, 2007	web site with links to all materials	The German Marshall Fund has posted a relatively rich set of cross-tabulated survey results.  Aggregate responses can appear to conflict - for example, while 64% of respondents have a very favorable opinion of international trade,  and 60% are in favor of freer trade, 53% feel it is important to keep trade barriers on U.S. goods to protect American businesses, even if these slow domestic growth.  I posted on some of these results: What Do U.S. Adults Think About Trade?;  Is the glass half empty or half full? ; Who wants freer trade? And what do they think will happen?.  These posts, however, need to be supplemented with additional material I did not summarize from the survey (including the question on protecting American businesses with trade barriers).  There's another post needed here.
NBC/WSJ	Likely Republican primary voters	Sep 28-30, 2007	pdf file with poll results	I posted on these results: Republican Primary Voter Trade Views; Keeping Up To Date on American Trade Policy Views
New Democratic Network	Likely voters	Oct 8-15, 2007	web site with links to reports on poll results and presentations	Poll done for a Democratic constituency.  Respondents see Democrats as more oriented towards softening the impact of globalization on the economy than Republicans, but Republicans are seen as better at making globalization work for the U.S. economy, and as more favorable towards free trade.  This poll goes into more detail than most, examining how people feel about different components of, and phrasing of, a trade policy position.
NBC/WSJ	Registered voters	Nov 1-5, 2007	pdf file with poll results	I posted on these results: What Registered U.S. Voters Think About Trade
Bloomberg/LA Times	Registered voters and others	Nov 30 - Dec 3, 2007	pdf file with poll results	Respondents tended to think free international trade has hurt rather than helped (44% to 27%).  Trade is relatively low on the list of serious problems facing the economy.  I posted on these results: What did Americans think about trade at the start of December?
NBC/WSJ	Adults	Dec 14-17, 2007	Wall Street Journal story about poll and pdf file with poll results	No question on trade per se, but a question on globalization.  A majority of respondents thought globalization has been bad.  I posted on these results: Uneasy About Globalization and Immigration
Bloomberg/LA Times	Adults in Iowa and NH	Dec 20-23, 26, 2007	Web page with detailed poll report	Iowa and New Hampshire Democrats placed trade relatively low on the list of issues leading to a choice of candidate.  Most feel Senator Clinton would handle foreign trade the best.  John Edwards, perhaps the most distinctive trade-populist alternative to Clinton scored well behind her on this issue in both states.

January 2: Revised note on German Marshall Fund results. Original text "Many of the results appear to conflict with one another..." replaced with "Aggregate responses can appear to conflict".

Comments

[Dr. Susan Aaronson]

Thanks for this nifty summary of public opinion and trade which really helped me with my overview of candidates on trade and human rights for a World Ppolicy Journal article.
Much obliged and check out my blog at tradehumanrights.blogspot.com

Susan
Susan Aaronson