Support for TPP Grows as Americans Become More Familiar With Trade Deal

Americans are paying more attention to the debate over the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership as the general-election season kicks off, but they’re split on whether they support the trade deal, according to a new Morning Consult poll.

Still, more than half (62 percent) of registered voters surveyed from Aug. 8 through Aug. 10 said they had heard little or nothing about the agreement, which would cut tariffs in the trade bloc and establish new rules on issues such as intellectual property, labor and government subsidies. If Congress approves TPP, the pact with trading partners such as Japan, Malaysia, Canada and Mexico would be a major addition to President Obama’s foreign and economic policy legacy.

More than a third of those surveyed (35 percent) either somewhat support or strongly support the accord, compared with the 22 percent who oppose it. Forty-three percent either didn’t know how they felt about it or had no opinion.

This month’s results mark a slight shift in TPP supporters’ favor when compared with a March poll that found 72 percent of surveyed registered voters either hadn’t heard of TPP or didn’t know much about it. In that survey, 29 percent of respondents opposed TPP and 26 percent supported it.