<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/survey-obamas-trade-proposal-tough-sell-most-americans-n372306" style="color: purple;" class="">http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/survey-obamas-trade-proposal-tough-sell-most-americans-n372306</a><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Survey: Obama's Trade Proposal a Tough Sell for Most Americans<o:p class=""></o:p></span></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">NBC News<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">by HALIMAH ABDULLAH<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">June 9, 2015<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Despite a heavy push by President Barack Obama for a sweeping multinational trade deal, a majority of Americans echo the concerns of labor unions and a number of Democratic members of Congress that the trade accord will negatively impact U.S. workers and companies.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; word-wrap: break-word; letter-spacing: 0.01rem; widows: 1;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Two-thirds of Americans say protecting American industries and jobs by limiting imports is more important than allowing free trade so they can buy products at lower prices from any country, according to the most recent NBC News online survey conducted by SurveyMonkey from June 3-5.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; word-wrap: break-word; letter-spacing: 0.01rem; widows: 1;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">And that sentiment is held across party lines, with majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and independents agreeing that limiting imported inexpensive goods from other countries to protect jobs from other countries is more important than being able to buy cheap goods.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; word-wrap: break-word; letter-spacing: 0.01rem; widows: 1;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">After a dramatic showdown in the Senate over giving the president "fast-track" aauthority to negotiate a sweeping multinational trade pact, the fight now moves to the House where the majority of Democrats oppose the legislation amid worries that the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive 12-nation trade accord, will cost American jobs and result in lowered middle class wages.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; word-wrap: break-word; letter-spacing: 0.01rem; widows: 1;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">But that approval came only after the Senate initially blocked consideration of that legislation in a dramatic showdown that was seen as a stinging rebuke to the administration's efforts.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; word-wrap: break-word; letter-spacing: 0.01rem; widows: 1;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Meanwhile, Obama administration officials have been for weeks running a clear public relations strategy on trade, with the president talking the deal up in interviews last week with local news channels in states with large liberal populations and in previous interviews with David Letterman, MSNBC's Chris Matthews and recent interviews on NPR.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; word-wrap: break-word; letter-spacing: 0.01rem; widows: 1;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Strongest support for allowing free trade comes among those with college degrees, with nearly 4 in 10 college graduates saying free trade is more important than limiting imports. Just 1 in 4 of those with some college and a third of those with high school degrees or less favor free trade over protecting American industries and jobs.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; word-wrap: break-word; letter-spacing: 0.01rem; widows: 1;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">The NBC News Online Survey was conducted among a national sample of 2,153 adults aged 18 and over. Respondents for this non-probability survey were selected from among those who have volunteered to participate in the SurveyMonkey Audience panel.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; word-wrap: break-word; letter-spacing: 0.01rem; widows: 1;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">Results have an error estimate of plus or minus 3.0 percentage points. A full description of our methodology can be found<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/NBCOnlineSurveyFreeTradeTOPLINES.pdf" style="color: purple;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(67, 114, 184);" class="">here</span></a>.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; word-wrap: break-word; letter-spacing: 0.01rem; widows: 1;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class="">The survey was produced by the Analytics Unit of NBC News in conjunction with Penn's Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies with data collection and tabulation conducted by SurveyMonkey. Analysis by the University of Pennsylvania's Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div class=""><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);" class=""><br class=""></span></div></body></html>