The Trans-Pacific Partnership, the major trade deal promoted by President Barack Obama, is opposed by both major-party candidates to succeed him in the White House, and a new poll shows that Republicans and independents are more strongly against it than Democrats.
The national poll from Rasmussen Reports shows that almost half of Americans dislike the TPP.
- Very favorable: 8 percent
- Somewhat favorable: 19 percent
- Somewhat unfavorable: 22 percent
- Very unfavorable: 26 percent
- Not sure: 26 percent
When broken down by party affiliation, more Democrats favor the deal than oppose it.
- Very favorable: 11 percent
- Somewhat favorable: 30 percent
- Somewhat unfavorable: 16 percent
- Very unfavorable: 15 percent
- Not sure: 28 percent
Fewer Republicans like the proposed agreement.
- Very favorable: 9 percent
- Somewhat favorable: 9 percent
- Somewhat unfavorable: 25 percent
- Very unfavorable: 35 percent
- Not sure: 22 percent
Almost no independents voice strong support for the deal.
- Very favorable: 3 percent
- Somewhat favorable: 16 percent
- Somewhat unfavorable: 24 percent
- Very unfavorable: 29 percent
- Not sure: 28 percent
One possible reason for the large number of voters who are unsure about the TPP is the secrecy surrounding the negotiations. The Washington Post reports that although roughly 600 corporations have seen drafts of the agreement, along with a few labor unions, Congress and the general public have not been able to examine the deal outside of segments released by Wikileaks last year. Congress hasn't scheduled a vote to ratify the agreement.
Despite how well the deal polls among Democrats, a substantial number of the party's elected officials oppose the TPP, including Reps. George Miller of California, Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Louise Slaughter of New York, who in April 2014 wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times detailing problems opponents have with the agreement.
"This agreement would force Americans to compete against workers from nations such as Vietnam, where the minimum wage is $2.75 a day," they wrote. "It threatens to roll back financial regulation, environmental standards and U.S. laws that protect the safety of drugs we take, food we eat and toys we give our children. It would create binding policies on countless subjects, so that Congress and state legislatures would be thwarted from mitigating the pact's damage."
Rasmussen polled 1,000 likely voters from Aug. 21-22, with a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.
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