Crop Insurance Today August 2016 - 4
CropInsurance TODAY
Public Support
for U.S. Farmers, Farm Policy
Runs High
By Jon McHenry, North Star Opinion Research
The agricultural community will have a
powerful ally in its corner as it gears up for the
next Farm Bill debate: the general public. The
results of a national survey of 1,000 registered
voters, conducted in April, demonstrated
overwhelming support for farmers, U.S. farm
policy and crop insurance.
This poll asked many of the same questions posed during a similar 2014 study, which
provided a good benchmark to gauge public
Figure 1. Farmers have high-bipartisan-favorable ratings.
I would like to read you a list of names of groups and have you tell me, for each one, whether
you've heard of that group and, if so, whether you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of them.
If you haven't heard of the group, just say so: Farmers.
86%
3%
All
n Favorable
n Unfavorable
88%
87%
2%
Republicans
86%
2%
Independents
2%
Democrats
Figure 2. Voters agree that American farming is critical
to national security.
Do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements:
A strong and thriving American farming industry is critical to American national security?
n Agree
15%
All
4
84%
82%
81%
AUGUST2016
n Disagree
15%
Republicans
78%
13%
Independents
17%
Democrats
opinion during the current Farm Bill. What
struck me about both polls was the continued
bipartisan nature of agriculture's support.
Voters are increasingly unhappy with the
direction of the country and have been inundated with polarizing political rhetoric in recent years. That usually creates a clear line of
division from a political perspective, but not
with agriculture.
Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike all hold favorable views of farmers.
In fact, farmers' 86 percent favorable ranking
is on par with numbers usually reserved for
universally liked professions, such as teachers
and soldiers.
Figure 1 show that farmers' favorable rating
is up slightly from 84 percent in 2014, demonstrating that attempts by agriculture's critics to
sully the image of producers may not be having the desired effect. In fact, when you look
at levels of support, you see that 66 percent of
Americans today hold "very favorable" opinions of farmers, which is eight points higher
than the survey conducted two years earlier.
This bipartisan support likewise extends
to farm policy. After hearing a list of various
components of the federal budget, 92 percent
of respondents agreed that helping America's
farmers was an important use of taxpayer dollars. That figure is five points higher than the
last poll, and it puts agriculture in the same
rarified air as federal spending on the military
and education.
What's more, there was a three-point
jump in the number of people saying federal
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crop Insurance Today August 2016
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Crop Insurance Today August 2016 - Cover2
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Crop Insurance Today August 2016 - Cover3
Crop Insurance Today August 2016 - Cover4
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