Post–Trade Deal, Trump Hits Record-High Approval with Farmers
President Trump hit his highest level of support in a monthly poll of farmers released on Sunday, just days after signing a phase-one trade deal with China to increase Chinese purchases of American agricultural products to $40 billion a year over the next two years.
The agricultural publication Farm Journal announced Sunday that its monthly nationwide poll of farmers and ranchers — concentrated in the Corn Belt of llinois, Iowa, Indiana, and Nebraska — found an 83 percent approval rating of Trump’s job performance, the highest number since the president took office.
“Of note is the strongly approve category went up three percentage points from an already lofty (December) number and his highest overall approval ratings ever,” Pro Farmer policy analyst Jim Wiesemeyer said. “That says the president’s approval is rock-solid. With the recent upbeat news on USMCA and the Phase 1 accord with China, the ratings will likely remain firm ahead.”
Trump spoke Sunday in Austin, Texas, at the annual American Farm Bureau Federation convention, touting the deal with China as proof of his administration’s support of domestic agriculture and thanking farmers for “your fortitude, your perseverance and your devotion.”
“We’re achieving what no administration has ever achieved before, and what do I get out of it? Tell me. I get impeached by these radical left lunatics,” Trump said. “But that’s OK, the farmers are sticking with Trump.”
I will be going to Austin, Texas. Leaving soon. Always like (love!) being in the Lone Star State. Speaking to our great Farmers. They hit “paydirt” with our incredible new Trade Deals: CHINA, JAPAN, MEXICO, CANADA, SOUTH KOREA, and many others!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 19, 2020
At Wednesday’s signing of the deal with representatives from Beijing, Trump said his policies “are righting the wrongs of the past and delivering a future of economic justice and security for American workers, farmers and families.”
Futures markets have yet to respond to the trade deal, with soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade falling 1.3 percent Friday, and corn and wheat futures only marginally rising by 0.1 and 0.3 percent, respectively.
