COLUMBUS – Voters in Ohio, a Rust Belt state which supported President Donald Trump in the 2016 election support the president’s plan to raise tariffs on imports from China, but that support begins to wane the closer the effects get to impacting individual pocketbooks.
The Trump administration Friday morning announced a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports.
Ohioans have watched high-paying manufacturing jobs dwindle, in part due to foreign competition, so it may not be surprising that voters in the state support raising tariffs on products imported from China 55 percent to 34 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll released Thursday
That support drops to a divided 46–46 percent when voters were asked if they support tariffs if the tariffs raised the cost of goods they buy and 50 percent of voters oppose tariffs if they resulted in China raising tariffs on American products.
“Despite Ohio’s reputation as a blue-collar bastion, Buckeye State voters overall are not supportive of increasing tariffs on steel and aluminum imported into the United States from foreign lands,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Poll.
Ohio’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, no fan of the president, nevertheless praised the tariff because Chinese competition had hurt the domestic steel industry and the steelworkers Brown counts on for support.
There are deep party and gender divides on the issue. While Republicans support tariffs on Chinese products even if China retaliates, 63–28 percent, Democrats oppose them, 68 – 19 percent. Independent voters are divided evenly.
A long way from the border, Ohio voters are overwhelmingly supportive of allowing undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to remain.
The poll found that Ohioans favor allowing the so-called “Dreamers” to stay and eventually apply for citizenship by a 76–19 percent margin, according to the poll of 1,082 voters conducted between June 7-12. Every listed group supports this measure by wide margins with the exception of Republicans.
Women oppose the tariffs if there is retaliation while men support them.
A long way from the border, Ohio voters are overwhelmingly supportive of allowing undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to remain.
The poll found that Ohioans favor allowing the so-called “Dreamers” to stay and eventually apply for citizenship by a 76–19 percent margin, according to the poll of 1,082 voters conducted between June 7-12. Every listed group supports this measure by wide margins with the exception of Republicans.
The margin of error in the poll is +/- 3.7 percent.