Last week, Morning Consult released a new poll with some an interesting finding: support for TPP grows as Americans become more familiar with trade deal. While many voters still have not heard of the TPP or do not have an opinion on it, 35 percent of respondents said they support TPP compared to just 22 percent that oppose it.
The results notable for two reasons: 1) an earlier Morning Consult poll from March showed more opposition to than support for TPP, and 2) the major-party presidential candidates have spent the intervening months seemingly competing for the title of “most anti-TPP” candidate. Yet despite the drumbeat of anti-TPP rhetoric, overall support has grown, as shown in the chart below.
Perhaps most surprisingly, the shift in support appears widespread. One might expect the negative presidential campaigns to harden the stance of people already opposed, but the opposite has happened: the number of respondents that “strongly oppose” TPP fell by 3 percentage points, while those that “somewhat oppose” fell by 4 percentage points. The chart below shows the percentage point change for each response option between March and August.
While the public support trends are certainly good, Congress needs to learn about constituent companies and workers that would benefit from TPP passage. We encourage all companies that would benefit to add their name to the free TPP importers list here.