Voters in the Midwest are almost evenly divided on President Trump’s foreign policy approach towards trade, according to a Hill-HarrisX poll released on Wednesday.
The survey found that 48 percent of Midwest voters approve of Trump’s handling of trade issues, while 52 percent of respondents said they disapprove of the president’s handling of trade.
Trump’s new trade deal with House Democrats could sway those voters one way or the other on the issue in the coming months.
U.S. farmers, particularly those in the Midwest, have been hit especially hard by Trump’s ongoing trade war with China. Both soybean and pork farmers continue to struggle to overcome rising prices as a result of China’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports and a drop in global demand for their products.
In addition to unveiling two articles of impeachment against Trump, House Democrats announced Tuesday that they had reached an agreement with the White House to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). A full vote on the deal could happen could as soon as next week.
“This is a day we’ve all been working to and working for on the path to yes,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said at a news conference to tout the deal. This came an hour before Pelosi appeared before cameras that Democrats were impeaching Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
However, even if House Democrats approve the deal, its chances of passing in the Senate before the end of the year are slim.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) made it clear on Tuesday that the Senate would not take up Trump’s trade deal with Canada and Mexico before the end of the year due to the expected impeachment trial.
“We will not be doing USMCA in the Senate. They will have to come up in all likelihood after a trial is finished in the Senate,” McConnell said.
Republicans remain firmly behind Trump on issues such as trade and impeachment.
Wednesday’s Hill-HarrisX poll showed that 87 percent of respondents who identified as GOP voters back Trump’s handling of trade. Another poll released Tuesday, meanwhile, showed his job approval rating at 85 percent among Republicans.
The survey comes amid Trump’s escalating trade war with China.
The president on Sunday is set to impose more than $100 billion in tariffs on China imports. The new tariffs could increase prices on a range of consumer goods, including everything from clothing to technology products that are not as readily available in the U.S. and likely to be in high demand during the holiday season.
Trump is also set to impose new tariffs on a wide range of European food imports that could trigger retaliatory tariffs from the European Union against U.S. farmers.
The Hill-HarrisX survey was conducted Dec. 8-9 nationwide among 1,000 registered voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
— Tess Bonn
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