Why Trade Is the Next Big Issue

For the last several years, Democrats' complicity with Republicans and Corporate America on the issue of "free trade" has severely weakened the party's ability to attract working class voters. That's why I have said Democrats must oppose Bush's new nominee for U.S. Trade Representative, Rob Portman - it gives Democrats a platform to reform their support for free trade, and start once again speaking to the party's traditional blue collar base.

Consider just a few factoids about Democrats' need to re-connect with the working class, and how trade policy is a critical tool in that endeavor:

DEMS LOST MAJORITY IN DISTRICTS RAVAGED BY "FREE" TRADE: According to a study by the National Committee for an Effective Congress of the 88 congressional districts that shifted from Democrat to Republican from 1994 to 2000, 59 had average incomes below the national norm, and in 68, the percentage of residents with college degrees was below the national average. Many of these are the blue collar, working class districts ravaged by "free trade" deals that have shipped American jobs to cheap overseas labor markets.

DEMS "FREE" TRADE SUPPORT HURTS THEIR CREDIBILITY: With Democrats increasingly having no difference with Republicans on the issue of trade, 55 percent of white working-class voters trusted Bush to handle the economy, while only 39 percent trusted Kerry.

MOST AMERICANS WANT "FREE" TRADE POLICIES RE-EVALUATED: A January 2004 PIPA/University of Maryland poll found that "a majority [of the American public] is critical of US government trade policy." A 1999 poll done on the five-year anniversary of the North American trade deal was even more telling: Only 24 percent of Americans said they wanted to "continue the NAFTA agreement."

TRADE WAS A HUGE ISSUE IN KEY RED STATE: According to an Associated Press exit poll, seven in 10 voters in Ohio voters blamed foreign trade for taking away jobs. Ohio, as we all know, was the key red state that tipped the election.

AMERICANS OPPOSE THE NEWEST "FREE" TRADE DEAL: 51% of Americans oppose the upcoming Central American Free Trade Agreement and that sentiment crosses party lines, with Republicans (47 to 37 percent) joining Democrats (53 to 31 percent) and Independents (53 to 32 percent) in opposition to the agreement. Overall opposition to CAFTA is stronger in red states (53 to 31 percent) than in blue states (48 to 34 percent). An overwhelming 74% opposed CAFTA when asked if they would favor or oppose the agreement if it reduced consumer prices but caused job losses.

All of these facts mean Democrats have a unique opportunity with Portman's nomination to re-assert themselves as the defenders of America's middle-class. With employment numbers still weak, and outsourcing increasing, how many more polls do Democrats need to see in order to realize that working Americans are desperate for political leaders to start addressing "free" trade as a serious problem?