Globalization seen as BAD by a majority of US

It is remarkable that that the country that has arguably gained the most from globalisation has this view. There are many academic studies examining the relationship between inequality and globalisation and the link between job changes and trade (including some of my own work). Of course there will be winners and losers - it is just surprising that one of the biggest winners see themselves as losers.

The question is "framed" to get a negative answer of course and is part of the problem.

If the question was "Do you think you have benefited from the increased availability of cheap products allowing you to consume much more than before" you might have got a different answer.

In my opinion the 58% of the respondents are simply wrong.

From PollingReport.com (H/T Greg Mankiw)

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"Do you think the fact that the American economy has become increasingly global is good because it has opened up new markets for American products and resulted in more jobs, or bad because it has subjected American companies and employees to unfair competition and cheap labor?"

.............Good........Bad.......Equal(vol.)......Unsure
...............%..........%............%................%
12/14-17/07....28.........58...........11...............3

6/97...........42.........48............7...............3

NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll conducted by the polling organizations of Peter Hart (D) and Bill McInturff (R). Dec. 14-17, 2007. N=approx. 500 adults nationwide. MoE ± 4.4.

Greg Mankiw suggests:

I doubt, however, that a more economically literate rewording of the question would have found the American public sympathetic to globalization.