Farmers and ranchers believe the nation is on the wrong track, and a strong plurality support electing Donald Trump to another term as president, according to a poll commissioned by Agri-Pulse of producers across the country.
Some 39% of the 605 farmers surveyed by the Stratovation Group said they would most likely vote for Trump, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis second at 19%, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley third at 13%, and President Joe Biden trailing those three Republicans at 8%.
Some 61% of the farmers identified as Republicans, and 45% of those favored Trump, with 25% preferring DeSantis, followed by 18% who favor Haley. Vivek Ramaswamy was the pick of 8%, while former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was selected by only 4%.
Just 10% of the surveyed farmers identified as Democrats, and 62% of them support Biden, while 20% support Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips.
Another 18% of farmers identified as independents. Trump was favored by a plurality, but a number of other candidates have their support, including Biden, Haley and DeSantis.
The farmers were asked to rate on a scale of zero to 10 how well they think the country is going; an answer of zero was considered “not at all satisfied,” while 10 was “extremely satisfied.” The average answer was just 2.54.
Republican farmers had by far the grimmest view of the country’s state, with an average rating of 1.81, compared to 3.27 for independents and 6 for Democrats.
The survey, conducted online from Dec. 14-22, includes representative samples of farmers and ranchers with at least $100,000 in gross farm income in the Midwest, South and California.
The producers’ top policy concerns include protecting against acts of terrorism, and upgrading or repairing transportation infrastructure, both of which were called “extremely important” or “somewhat important” by 92% of those surveyed.
Other top concerns include “selling more U.S. farm products overseas” (91%), the federal budget deficit (89%), illegal immigration (87%), protection of water quality (87%), and “common sense environmental regulations for crop input use." (87%).
Just 43% of the farmers believe it’s at least somewhat important to address climate change.
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There was some notable difference in policy concerns depending on farmers’ political identification.
The most important issue for Republican farmers included rural broadband connectivity, cited by 95% of those surveyed, followed by the budget deficit (94%) and selling more ag products overseas (93%).
Independents cited illegal immigration as a top concern (94%), followed by rural broadband and increasing ag exports. For Democrats, the top concerns were ag exports (97%), foreign land ownership (95%) and negotiating new trade agreements (94%).
The concerns about trade policy are noteworthy given that Trump is calling for imposing an across-the-board tariff of U.S. imports that farm groups fear could invite retaliation against American ag exports. Trump, DeSantis and Haley also want to end China's "most favored nation" trade status, which could raise tariffs on imports from China.
The first votes of the primary season will be cast next Monday when Iowa holds its GOP caucus.
Farmers' views are generally in line with polling of GOP voters in Iowa, although the gap in support between Trump and DeSantis was narrower in the Agri-Pulse poll.
As of Tuesday, Trump was favored by 51% of likely caucus-goers, to 17% for DeSantis,16% for Haley and 7% for Ramaswamy, according to the FiveThirtyEight average of polls.
For more news, go to Agri-Pulse.com.
