Poll: Vast Majority of Swing Voters, Conservatives Support Trump Threatening China with Tariffs

The vast majority of likely American voters, swing voters, Republican voters, and conservatives support President Trump’s threat to China that he will impose $150 billion worth of tariffs on the country if they do not work with the U.S. in reducing the American-Chinese trade deficit.

In the latest Harvard/Harris Poll, an overwhelming number of likely voters said they support Trump threatening China with $150 billion worth of tariffs. About 61 percent of voters said they supported Trump’s economic nationalist effort, while 62 percent of swing voters said the same.

Additionally, nearly 80 percent of Republican voters and 78 percent of self-identified conservatives said they support Trump’s tariff threat against China. Nearly 60 percent of Americans who identify as politically “moderate” likewise said they support the tariff threat against China.

The vast majority of likely voters also said that the U.S. should not simply ignore U.S. trade deficits, as free traders like the billionaire Koch brothers have suggested. More than 75 percent of voters said the U.S. should take steps to correct its trade deficit with China. Roughly 90 percent of Republican voters and nearly 75 percent of swing voters said the U.S. must correct its trade deficit with China.

Americans’ economic nationalist views on trade show a gap between the pro-free trade political establishment and the country’s middle and working class.

As Breitbart News has reported, the U.S. trade deficit with China has eliminated at least nearly 3.5 million American jobs since 2001.

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect in the 1990s, at least one million net U.S. jobs have been lost because of the free trade deal. Between 2000 and 2014, there have been about five million manufacturing jobs lost across the country as trade deficits continue soaring.

One former steel town in West Virginia lost 94 percent of its steel jobs because of NAFTA, with nearly 10,000 workers in the town being displaced from the steel industry.