The Democratic Base Is Shifting, But The Party’s Position On Trade Isn’t
The old political stereotype that Democrats in Congress mostly represent hard-hatted union members is long since obsolete. The percentage of Democrats coming from districts with lots of manufacturing workers has dropped by nearly half in two decades.
But that doesn’t mean they are becoming more supportive of foreign trade deals. A majority of congressional Democrats continue to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) being negotiated by the Obama administration, the largest trade deal in over 20 years.
And that’s partly because, like the Democratic electoral map, trade deals themselves are becoming less tethered to manufacturing.
Unlike the NAFTA talks, however, the TPP trade negotiations go beyond issues affecting manufacturing — such as tariffs on specific goods — and add a new focus on issues like intellectual property rights, labor protections and environmental safeguards. Congressional Democrats are unhappy with the leaked details from the negotiations on these issues, and that is costing the proposal many votes in Congress, despite the advocacy of President Obama and the support of most Democratic voters.
“It is not only a trade agreement, it’s a grab-bag of special favors for multinational corporations,” said Rep. Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat who is adamantly opposed to the TPP.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-democratic-base-is-shifting-but-the-partys-position-on-trade-isnt/
Interesting article the best stuff is toward the bottom
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FTR I'm against TPP
= new reply since forum marked as read
