Are most voters opposed to globalization? A growing body of empirical
research, using data from available surveys of public opinion, suggests
that antiglobalization sentiments are strong, especially among blue-collar
workers. This article reports the findings from a survey experiment aimed
at measuring the impact of issue framing on individuals' stated
attitudes toward international trade. Respondents given an antitrade
introduction to the survey question, linking trade to the possibility of
job losses, were 17 percent less likely to favor increasing trade with
other countries than were those asked the same question without any
introduction at all. Curiously, respondents who were given a protrade
introduction to the question, suggesting that trade can lead to lower
prices for consumers, were not more likely to express support for trade
than those who received no introduction. In addition, the responses of
less educated individuals were more sensitive to framing effects than
those of highly educated individuals. Without measuring and taking these
types of framing effects into account, opinion surveys offer unreliable
guides to gauging the extent (and distribution) of opposition to trade
among voters. Results from a second experiment reveal that knowledge of
the endorsement of trade openness by economists mitigates framing effects
and raises overall support for trade liberalization by a substantial
degree.I would like to thank Adam Berinsky,
Mac Destler, Jeffry Frieden, Judith Goldstein, Jens Hainmueller, Helen
Milner, Diana Mutz, Dani Rodrik, Ken Scheve, Mike Tomz, and seminar
participants at Harvard, Duke, Columbia, Stanford, Princeton, Berkeley,
the University of Minnesota, and the University of Pennsylvania for
helpful comments on earlier drafts. My thanks also go to Lisa Martin and
two anonymous IO reviewers.