PNN – The results of a new poll in the United States showed that voters in this country, along party lines, are deeply divided on the two issues of tariffs and the country’s foreign alliances.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, the Hill website wrote: A poll by the American newspaper Wall Street Journal showed a general lack of support for Trump’s tariff plan.
The survey indicates that 77% of Republicans, who are allies of US President Donald Trump, have a positive view of the impact of tariffs on the country’s economy and say that tariffs create jobs.
But a larger majority (93%) of Democrats says tariffs have a mostly negative impact, causing prices to rise.
However, overall, the majority of eligible voters surveyed (54%) had a negative view of tariffs and did not support Trump’s plans to impose them.
There were similar differences in the survey participants’ responses to US foreign alliances and aid to other countries.
The poll found that 81 percent of Republican voters said that America’s allies are not taking enough responsibility for their own defense and that American tax dollars should no longer be spent on their defense.
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Among Democrats, 83 percent said foreign alliances are a strength of the country and should be funded with tax dollars. 81 percent of Democrats and only 31 percent of Republicans had a favorable view of NATO.
Similarly, 83 percent of Democrats supported continuing U.S. financial aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia, while 79 percent of Republicans opposed it.
Overall, 51 percent of American voters supported cutting foreign aid, while 45 percent opposed it. 92 percent of Republican respondents supported cutting foreign aid, and 83 percent of Democrats said U.S. foreign aid should not be cut.
The survey was conducted between March 27 and April 1, before the Trump administration announced it would impose 10 percent tariffs on imports into the United States and tariffs targeting several of the country’s trading partners.
Trump defended his sweeping tariffs on Sunday, saying he “doesn’t want anything to be cut” amid a stock market plunge.
He has also been vocal about his skepticism about NATO for some time and has repeatedly pressured NATO allies to spend more on their own defense. The US president claims that the country is shouldering a heavy burden to defend other NATO members.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has made sweeping cuts to US foreign aid, seeking to freeze billions of dollars in aid and eliminate the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The Wall Street Journal poll was conducted among 1,500 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.