Have Republicans Abandoned The Free Market?

Source: IBD | December 7, 2016 |

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“The free market has been sorting it out, and America’s been losing.”

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After Pence made that remark, Trump added “Every time, every time.”

But here’s the really interesting, and troubling, part. The Economist/YouGov poll asked the public whether they agreed with Pence. More than half of Republicans (57%) said they did. Just 23% disagreed.

Stranger still, only 33% of Democrats agreed with Pence, while 33% disagreed.

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It’s possible that simple partisanship explains some of the YouGov poll’s bizarre results. Republicans may have simply been expressing their support for the incoming administration, while Democrats would probably disagree with Trump or Pence if they said the sky is blue.

What’s more, the context of the question — it was asked in reference to Carrier — could have colored people’s responses, since Pence seemed to be referring to trade deals.

But this isn’t the first sign that self-identified Republicans are drifting away from free-market principles.

As we noted in this space during the primaries, exit polls consistently showed that Republicans were far more likely than Democrats to say that free trade hurt the country, rather than helped.

This is what’s troubling. The problems that economically distressed communities face today aren’t the result of too much free market, but too little. Federal regulations, mandates and taxes, combined with bad public policy at the state level, are suffocating growth and innovation in the states that helped elect Trump.

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But it really confuses things when a rock-ribbed conservative like Mike Pence — whatever he intended to mean — starts talking like a big-government liberal.

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