Mass Support for Regional Economic Integration: The Case of NAFTA and the Mexican Public

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Mediante el empleo de encuestas l1evados a cabo en 1991 y 1993, el presente articulo examina las bases del apoyo que el Tratado de Libre Comercio de America del Norte tiene entre los ciudadanos mexicanos y compara los resultados con un estudio reciente sobre las actitudes hacia la integra-ci6n europea. Al evaluar el TLC, los mexicanos se guiaron mas por sus opiniones sobre la administraci6n de Salinas y los Estados Unidos que por consideraciones de utilidad econ6mica. La importancia que estas cuestiones tienen para los ciudadanos mexicanos se explica por factores de situa-ci6n y por la restringida sociedad civil de Mexico.This study examines how the mass public in Mexico responded to one component of the neoliberal restructuring that took place under Presidents Miguel de la Madrid (1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988) and Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994). That component is trade liberalization via entry into a regional free trade agreement with the United States and Canada. Specifically, this study examines how the Mexican public responded to the the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that was negotiated and ratified during the early 1990s.This focus allows one to examine how the public in one country has responded to one facet of neoliberal restructuring that has occurred throughout Latin America since the early 1980s. It would seem that public attitudes toward trade liberalization would be more positive than for other types of neoliberal policies in that the social costs are not as readily apparent as, say, reductions in social spending, restrictive wage policies, or privatization.' Moreover, unlike many other policy debates over economic restructuring in Mex-1. The implications of this point are discussed later in the text. Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos ico, NAFTA received extensive media coverage both in the UnitedStates and Mexico; hence, public awareness of the proposal has been high.2 It should also be noted that Mexican views of NAFTA could be more closely intertwined with attitudes toward the United States and Canada than are other components of the neoliberal policy package.Using public opinion surveys that were conducted in 1991 and 1993 in Mexico, the study first examines levels of support for NAFTA and cross-sectional differences in those levels of support. Were Mexicans receptive to this trade agreement and to what degree? Was there significant variation across demographic and partisan variables in levels of support? Did the level of support for NAFTA vary between 1991 and 1993? In addition to exploring patterns and trends at the descriptive level, the article examines alternative