Pollster: Attitudes toward Trump’s farm aid are ‘highly wrapped up’ in feelings toward president

Pollster Emily Ekins said Thursday that voters’ attitudes toward the Trump administration’s aid to farmers hit by retaliatory tariffs are highly dependent on voters’ attitudes toward President Trump. 

“This is highly wrapped up in attitudes toward President Trump. If you like Trump, you like this plan. If you dislike Trump, you dislike this plan regardless of the merits,” Ekins, the director of polling at the libertarian Cato Institute, told Hill.TV’s Joe Concha on “What America’s Thinking.” 

“Americans love farmers. They do. Democrats, Republicans, independents, it’s a rich part of American history,” Ekins replied. 

Ekins was responding to a new American Barometer poll, which found that 83 percent of Republicans surveyed support the plan to prove aid to the farmers, while only 38 percent of Democrats said they agreed. 

The Trump administration announced earlier this month that it would offer $12 billion in aid to farmers impacted by retaliatory tariffs from U.S. trade partners on U.S. exports. 

The tariffs from trade partners came in response to Trump’s tariffs on imported aluminum, steel and Chinese goods earlier this year. 

While a majority of Republicans polled supported the plan, various Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Ron Johnson (Wis.) and Ben Sasse (Neb.) have spoken out against the move. 

— Julia Manchester