Chart by The Mellman Group Ayres, McHenry & Associates
A poll
commissioned by the American Alliance for Manufacturing has found that, faced with an "either/or choice," 29 percent of those surveyed want Washington to focus on deficit reduction while 67 percent favor job creation. Even 53 percent of Republicans said creating jobs was more important than reducing the deficit (44 percent).
The bipartisan poll of 1202 adults was conducted by The Mellman Group and Ayres, McHenry & Associates in mid-June. It was backed up with eight focus groups in four cities: Columbus, Ohio; Sunnyvale, California; Greenville, South Carolina; and Manchester, New Hampshire.
The pollsters also found a slight majority of Americans now feel negatively about their personal economic situation, 53 percent versus 49 percent. In 2010, the outlook was somewhat more positive.
A very large majority, 60 percent, now believe the economic situation will be much worse for their kids, with only 10 percent saying it will be better and 24 percent saying it will be the same. The poll did not, however, include a breakdown based on the racial background of participants. In previous polls by other organizations, African Americans and Latinos, who have been especially hard hit by the recession, have been far more optimistic and upbeat than whites. At least a portion of that perspective is attributed by analysts to having Barack Obama in the White House.
Among the other findings in the poll:
• 50 percent of voters believe that the president is working to create manufacturing jobs—an 11 percent drop from 2010. Congress gets a worse assessment—41 percent say Democrats in Congress are working to create jobs, and 32 percent see the GOP as doing so.
• 94 percent of voters say creating manufacturing jobs is either “one of the most important” things government can do or “very important.”
• 90 percent support Buy American policies “to ensure that taxpayer funded government projects use only U.S.-made goods and supplies wherever possible.”
• 95 percent favor keeping “America’s trade laws strong and strictly enforced to provide a level playing field for our workers and businesses.”
• 69 percent say the U.S. should have a national manufacturing strategy
• 60 percent of Democrats but only 39 percent of Republicans think the U.S. "should do whatever is necessary to revitalize manufacturing."
• 59 percent say the U.S. should “get tough with China and use every possible means to stop their unfair trade practices." 34 percent say the U.S. should “be careful […] because they own such a significant portion of our debt.”
• 58 percent said the U.S. does not now have the world's strongest economy, with 39 percent saying China does. But most have negative views of things made in China and even worse views about companies moving their operations there.