>
>Max, has EPI or the AFL-CIO done any polling on free trade? The anti-free
>trade position just doesn't seem like a political winner. And the few polls
>I've seen show a majority of the U.S. public approving of NAFTA. With 80%
>of the U.S. labor force employed in services, and so largely immune to
>international competition, does the anti-free-trade line resonate with the
>masses as much as it does with the UAW?
>
>Doug
Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc. conducted a poll for the AFL-CIO, July 18-22, 1997, that found, among other things:
* 66% of Americans believe that free trade agreements between the U.S. and other countries cost the U.S. jobs
* 66% of Americans believe that NAFTA has helped large corporations
* 73% of Americans believe that NAFTA has not helped small business in the U.S.
* 58% of Americans agree that foreign trade has been bad for the U.S. economy because cheap imports have cost wages and jobs here
* 81% of Americans say that Congress should not accept trade agreements that give other countries the power to overturn U.S. laws on consumer safety, labor or the environment
And for the first time ever, Americans say the U.S. trade deficit is the most important economic issue facing the country, above taxes, the federal budget deficit, and inflation. In 1993, only 7% of Americans thought the trade deficit was the most important economic issue facing the country, trailing unemployment, the federal deficit and taxes.
(from "NAFTA at 5: Report from the School of Real-Life Results, from Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch web site. The entire report, which is a pretty good summary of the case against NAFTA and free trade, is available at http://www.citizen.org/pctrade/nafta/reports/5years.htm)
---------------------------------------- THE PROGRESSIVE POPULIST James M. Cullen, Editor P.O. Box 150517, Austin, Texas 78715-0517 Phone: 512-447-0455 Internet: populist at usa.net Home page: http://www.populist.com ----------------------------------------