What do American people think about free trade?
Sovereignty axis · 🇺🇸 the United States · measured continuously, published only above 100 responses.
34% of American respondents take the position “Trade deals help ordinary people more than they hurt them.”, against 42% for “Trade deals mostly help the rich and cost ordinary workers.”, with 24% choosing neither. n = 105, margin of error ±9.7, weighted to the United States's adult population.
Where the United States sits on sovereignty
What is measured about the United States on this axis. These are facts about the country, not what its people think about them — that is the part of this page waiting on a sample.
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Trade openness
World Bank national accounts · 2024
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25.0% |
among the lowest in the world
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Foreign direct investment
IMF Balance of Payments · 2025
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1.3% |
somewhat below the middle
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Income per person
World Bank / ICP · 2025
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$76,931 |
among the highest in the world
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Ranked against every country with a published figure for the same series. Sources: World Bank World Development Indicators, which republish UN, ILO, UNESCO, WHO, SIPRI, IISS and UNODC data.
The questions that bear on free trade
Asked as a forced choice between two written positions, in randomised order, with the sides flipped for half of respondents.
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A · Trade deals mostly help the rich and cost ordinary workers.
B · Trade deals help ordinary people more than they hurt them.
World, unweighted: 55% A ·
19% neither ·
26% B · n = 3926
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34% B 🇺🇸 n=105 |
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A · We should buy things from whoever makes them best and cheapest, wherever they are.
B · We should protect our own key industries, even if that means we pay more at home.
World, unweighted: 23% A ·
20% neither ·
56% B · n = 3980
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29% B 🇺🇸 n=114 |
A national figure appears only once that nation clears 100 responses on the question. The world column is a raw count of every answer received and is not post-stratified — it is shown because withholding it would say less, not more.
Asked another way
The same question, as people put it.
- The united states public opinion on free trade
- Free trade poll the united states
- What do american people think about free trade
- What percentage of american people support free trade
Each has one answer on this page, and it is the same answer.