Over half of U.S. voters think the North American Free Trade Agreement needs
to be renegotiated, according to a Rasmussen Reports telephone survey taken
just days before John McCain declared that NAFTA must be defended "without
equivocation in political debate."

The national survey taken Monday night finds that 56% of voters support
renegotiation while 39% say U.S. free trade agreements in general have directly impacted their families. Of that latter group, 73% say the impact has been a bad one, as opposed to 14% who say it was beneficial. (See toplines and crosstabs)

Only 16% of respondents favor NAFTA - a pact which came into being in 1994
and lowers nearly all trade barriers between the U.S., Canada and Mexico --
as is, with 28% undecided.

McCain's strong endorsement of NAFTA came in a speech in Ottawa today
(Friday), aimed at his Democratic opponent Barack Obama for wanting to
renegotiate it at the risk of damaging relations with Canada and Mexico.

Anticipating this criticism, Obama on Monday told a group in Flint, Michigan: “I have said before, and will say again, I believe in free trade. … But unlike George Bush and John McCain, I do not think that any trade agreement is a good trade agreement.”

Voters--in a separate Rasmussen Reports survey taken last week--seem to share Obama’s ambivalence. Thirty-four percent (34%) say free trade is good for the U.S. economy, but 36% say it is not. Thirteen percent (13%) say neither is true, and 18% are undecided. Republicans narrowly believe free trade is good (41% to 33%), Democrats narrowly believe it is bad, and unaffiliated voters are evenly divided. (See toplines and crosstabs)

At the same time, over half (54%) believe free trade agreements take jobs away from Americans, while only 23% believe U.S. jobs are created. Ten percent (10%) say neither, and 13% aren’t sure.

Perhaps most importantly, 71% say negotiation of trade agreements is important to them in terms of how they will vote. Only 20% say it is not important.

While economists continue to debate the merits of NAFTA and its impact on the U.S. economy, voters surveyed this week in every age group, income level, range of education and political category overwhelmingly believe it needs to be renegotiated.

Even those most supportive of the NAFTA status quo – Republicans, self-identified conservatives, those of who have completed graduate school of some kind and people earning more than $100,000 per year -- believe by substantial margins than it needs to be reworked.

For example, while 62% of Democrats and 56% of unaffiliated voters think NAFTA is due for renegotiation, even 49% of Republicans agree. Fifty-eight percent of those earning less than $20,000 a year support negotiating the trade pact, and 43% of those who make more than $100,000 annually agree with them.

But voters also believe what they think has little or no bearing on what their political leaders decide to do on a trade agreement. Forty-three percent (43%) say politicians listen the most to those who give them the biggest campaign contribution, followed by 30% who believe business leaders have the most say. Only 11% believe politicians listen to the voters, trailed by world leaders at 7% and 10% who aren’t sure.

On a more personal level, though, only 32% say they “buy American” when looking for a car, with the majority (51%) opting for the best possible deal. Just 14% choose automatically to buy foreign.

With rising oil and food prices and another growing economic stresses, it is perhaps not surprising that voters take a harsher view of free trade than they did in a Rasmussen Reports survey last October.