Poll: 7-in-10 Republican Voters Support Tariffs on China, Mexico

About seven-in-ten Republican voters support tariffs on Chinese imports to protect American jobs and U.S. industries from unfair foreign competition, a new poll finds.

A Civiqs/Daily Kos Poll finds that Republican voters are overwhelmingly supportive of tariffs in general on foreign imports to protect American workers and their jobs from being forced to compete against subsidized industries overseas.

Roughly 69 percent of Republican voters said tariffs on imports are “good” for the American economy. Contrast that with eight-in-ten Democrat voters who said tariffs are “bad.” Swing voters are much more split on the issue, with about 48 percent calling tariffs “bad” and 36 percent favoring tariffs.

When it comes to China, about seven-in-ten Republican voters said imposing tariffs on Chinese imports helps the American economy. Only 13 percent of Republican voters said tariffs on China will hurt the U.S.

A study by the Coalition for a Prosperous America most recently found that an across-the-board 25 percent tariff on all Chinese imports to the U.S. would create more than 720,000 American jobs by 2024, with more than 190,000 of those jobs being in the manufacturing sector.

With Mexico, a majority of 69 percent of Republican voters said tariffs on Mexican imports would be helpful to the American economy in terms of protecting U.S. jobs and industries. Only 16 percent of Republicans said tariffs on Mexico would hurt the U.S.

The Civiqs/Daily Kos Poll reveals a trend that has been growing for years now, where Republican voters are increasingly supportive of imposing tariffs on foreign imports to protect American jobs from unfair foreign competition and where Democrat voters prefer the big business lobby’s approach of free trade at all costs.

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was enacted and China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO), nearly five million American manufacturing jobs have been eliminated from the American economy. The mass elimination of working- and middle-class jobs and depressed U.S. wages due to NAFTA has coincided with a nearly 600 percent increase in trade deficits.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.