Surprising graphs o’ the day

by digby

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t expect this:

Read the explanation for why this doesn’t track with some other recent polls about free trade.

But this also surprised me:

Trade has emerged as a contentious issue in both parties’ candidate debates, but majorities of both Clinton (58%) and Sanders supporters (55%) say that free trade agreements have been a good thing for the United States. Cruz supporters (48% good thing) and Kasich supporters (44%) are divided, but among Trump supporters, just 27% say trade agreements are beneficial for the U.S, while 67% say they are bad thing.

In fact, this Pew Poll is interesting in many different ways. The GOP is sharply divided on a whole host of issues, as exemplified perfectly by the three remaining candidates. The ultra-conservative extremist Cruz, the slightly more moderate Kasich and the authoritarian populist Trump. Their coalition is coming apart at the seams.

And while it may seem that the Democratic race is extremely contentious, the voters of both candidates are pretty much on the same page. Both Clinton and Sanders voters fall on the same side of the issues, with the difference being how big the majority is not that they substantially disagree. It suggests that the Democratic party will be able to find consensus on the issues while the Republicans are probably going to be fighting for some time. Not that they can’t win anyway, of course. People vote against as much as they vote for. But the days of the GOP having a coherent ideology seem to be over. The big question is where they go from here.