US farmer support for Trump in decline: Poll

By Vakkas Dogantekin

ANKARA (AA) - U.S. President Donald Trump's popularity with American farmers is showing signs of decline amid an escalating trade war with China, according to a survey farmers.

U.S.-based Farm Journal found 71% of farmers approve of what Trump is doing, down from 79% in July, according to its report published Monday of an Aug, 23 survey of 1,153 farmers.

Of farmers who approved of Trump's presidency, only 43% strongly approve, which is down 10% from July.

Eighteen percent strongly disapproved of the president.

The Farm Journal Pulse is a national text message-based poll sent to approximately 5,000 farmers and ranchers in the continental U.S.

Last month, the head of a major American farmers’ association criticized Trump's tariff policy against China and said the future of the country as a reliable trading partner is at stake.

"Trade policy is not a game -- it has real and serious consequences for rural America," National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson told Bloomberg.

In June, 600 American retailers, farmers, and manufacturers, including Walmart and Levi Strauss, signed a letter urging Trump to forego tariffs on Beijing amid the trade war between the two countries.

Trump has derided and withdrawn from trade deals negotiated by his predecessors.

Critics, however, fault his continued threat of tariffs and lack of clarity over trade goals with hurting U.S. manufacturers and farmers, as well as the international trade system.