Poll: People Support CAFTA If It Includes Labor Protections
July 13, 2005
According to a new poll by the Program on International Policy Attitudes, most people in the United States support CAFTA only if it offers labor protections for workers in the United States and abroad:
When asked about the Central American Free Trade Agreement per se just half of respondents (50%) said they favor Congress approving it. In stark contrast to the partisan polarization in Congress, support did not differ by party affiliation—50% of Republicans were in favor, as were 51% of Democrats. The recent Senate vote on CAFTA, however, showed 78% of Republicans in favor and 73% of Democrats opposed.
Most striking, when asked, “Suppose the US government, as part of CAFTA, were to commit to substantially increase federal spending on programs to help American workers who lose their jobs, and to make sure that Central American countries enforce health and safety standards for their workers” then support for CAFTA jumped to 65%. Here too there is a remarkable amount of bipartisan consensus. With these provisions support for CAFTA jumped to 61% among Republicans and 73% among Democrats.