Farmers and agricultural workers across the U.S. have been hit hard over the past few years, facing extreme financial struggles related to China tariffs, historic flooding and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these difficulties, new data shows most farmers don’t blame President Trump and instead plan to vote for him again in the upcoming election.
According to a survey of 5,000 U.S. farmers by the Farm Journal, 85 percent said they plan to vote for Trump to be reelected to a second term in November. Just 12 percent said they plan on voting for Joe Biden, while roughly 3 percent were still undecided. Other polls measuring farmers’ pulse on the election show similar large leads for Trump, with many larger than they were in 2016.
Trump’s involved history with farmers and ranchers during his first term has yielded mixed results for the industry. His trade deals with China have opened the door for more exports and international trade, but tariffs implemented in response to tariffs made by Trump have notoriously cost farmers billions of dollars in revenue. Generally, while Trump’s involvement in the agriculture industry has caused markets to fluctuate greatly, his overarching stance against environmental regulations is what keeps many farmers interested in his second term. Couple that with Biden’s intentions to reinstate environmental regulations and perhaps create new ones related to his plans to combat climate change, and you have many within the farming and agriculture industry feeling safer sticking with a Trump presidency.
