GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- There are heavy political overtones to the
pending vote in Congress to grant permanent normal trading
relations status to China. President Clinton and other advocates
are pressing for conversions among House Democratic in particular,
while a majority of Republicans in the House are generally expected
to vote in favor of the measure.
Despite these differences among members of Congress, there is no
major difference in support for the measure between rank and file
Democrats and Republicans nationwide -- certainly not on the order
found in other contentious issues. Republicans and those
Independents who lean Republican favor the measure by a 55% to 41%
margin. Democrats and those Independents who lean Democratic favor
the measure by a 58% to 33% margin. Thus, while Republicans are a
little less enthusiastic than Democrats, a majority of Americans of
all political persuasions favor the bill. It is safe to say, then,
that this is a measure which cuts across the more typical political
boundaries.
There are slightly stronger differences by political ideology,
although the measure is favored across all ideological groups.
Liberals are strongest in their support, favoring the agreement by
a 63% to 30% margin, followed by moderates, 56% to 37%, and
conservatives, who favor it by a 52% to 43% margin.
Republican Party Given Slight Edge on Trade Over
Democrats
Data from the most recent Gallup poll suggest that Americans give a
slight preference to the Republicans over Democrats in dealing with
foreign affairs and foreign trade. At the same time, President
Clinton gets relatively low ratings for his handing of foreign
trade.
Forty three percent of Americans interviewed this past weekend
select Republicans as superior in terms of handling problems
relating to foreign affairs, compared to 38% of respondents who
choose the Democratic Party. In terms of foreign trade, the
Republicans win by a 45% to 36% margin over the Democrats.
The trade measure has made some strange bedfellows in
Washington. President Clinton and a number of Republican leaders
have joined together to advocate passage of the measure, and
Democratic House members are a prime target group for their
pressure. Bill Clinton in fact has been extraordinarily energetic
in pushing for passage of the China trade bill, and many observers
feel that he is looking to its passage as the crowning foreign
policy achievement of his last year in office. This is an area in
which Clinton is currently performing less well in the eyes of the
American public. Although Clinton's overall job approval is 57%,
and approval for his handling of the economy is at a still higher
65%, only 51% of Americans approve of his handling of foreign
affairs in general, and only 43% approve of his handling of foreign
trade.
Labor Union Households No Less Likely to Support the
Measure Than Others
Labor has strongly opposed the proposed trade bill but, in what
must be a disappointment to labor leaders, the roughly 13% of the
American public who reported living in a union household in this
past weekend's poll also favored the China trade bill, by a 55% to
42% margin.
The data show that the single most supportive demographic are
those with post-graduate college degrees, some 75% of whom support
the measure.
Survey Methods
These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly
selected national sample of 1,011 adults, 18 years and older,
conducted May 18-21, 2000. For results based on this sample, one
can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error
attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus
3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question
wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can
introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion
polls.
