Why Midwest farmers are sticking with Trump
| Seymour, Wis.
In the war of signage, there鈥檚 no contest along the back roads of Wisconsin. As combines cut down the last standing corn and flocks of geese crease the gray sky, the countryside blossoms with blue 鈥淭rump Pence 2020鈥� signs that promise to 鈥淜eep America Great.鈥�
Farming has been less than great in recent years. Buffeted by trade wars and the disruptions of COVID-19, many crop and livestock farmers have struggled.听
Last spring, dairy farmers dumped milk they could not sell; pig farmers couldn鈥檛 send their animals to market. And many farmers have gone out of business, especially in Wisconsin, where the number of dairy farms continues to fall and the good years are distinguished from the bad only by the rate of decline.
Why We Wrote This
Farmers are an important rural constituency, whose support for President Trump has held up despite his trade wars that dented exports.
Still, for all the difficulties of the Trump era, farmers remain among the president鈥檚 staunchest supporters, reflecting both Republican leanings in general in rural America and support among farmers in particular for President Donald Trump鈥檚 stances on deregulation, trade, and related issues. In battleground states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio, farmers are a demographic that still matters, even as the broader tide has turned against Mr. Trump鈥檚 path to winning a second term. (In Wisconsin, Democratic challenger Joe Biden has maintained a steady polling lead, with the Real Clear Politics rolling average听.)
President Trump 鈥渋s finally standing up to China,鈥� says Terry Hock, a dairy farmer in Outagamie County, about 10 miles west of Green Bay. Mr. Hock was steering a mini loader across his barnyard on a recent morning when he stopped to talk about the election. 鈥淗e鈥檚 the only one that ever stood up against it, or any foreign country,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 also like the fact that he鈥檚 a businessman.鈥�
Then there are the payments. Under Mr. Trump, the federal government made unprecedented听extra听outlays to farmers 鈥� 听鈥� to soften the blow from foreign tariffs on agricultural exports. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that the government subsidized 40% of farmers鈥� incomes last year.听
Farmers also got big payments this year from the CARES Act, designed to shore up an economy battered by the pandemic. In Wisconsin, more than 15,000 farmers received payments averaging $3,300 apiece, according to the state鈥檚 Department of Revenue.听
鈥淲e took a little hit in March when this pandemic hit, but we鈥檙e back,鈥� says Mr. Hock, who has 75 cows. 鈥淚鈥檓 doing good.鈥澨�
No misgivings
As a group, farmers are reliably conservative voters, and the ups and downs of the Trump years haven鈥檛 changed their politics. 鈥淭here is little evidence of a farm revolt against Mr. Trump,鈥� writes Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette University Law School Poll, in a recent report on Wisconsin. 鈥淔armers are much more Republican than non-farmers, so most support Trump,鈥� he writes.听
Duane Stateler, who raises pigs in east-central Ohio, says he has no misgivings about voting again for the president.听
鈥淚 think by far the farmers in my local area and across the state are for a continuation of the Trump administration,鈥� says Mr. Stateler, who sends 16,000 pigs to market each year. In 2019, pork producers suffered when China, the world鈥檚 largest pork consumer, temporarily stopped buying American pork in retaliation against U.S. tariffs. Then COVID-19 forced the shutdown of some meat plants.
鈥淲e had gotten through the trade crisis and things were starting to rebound,鈥� Mr. Stateler says. 鈥淭here was still optimism, just as the shutdown happened.鈥�
In the end, however, pork exports rose 9% in 2019. In January, Mr. Stateler for the signing of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which should help both hog and dairy exporters.听
When COVID-19 hit, Mr. Stateler cut back on protein in his hogs鈥� feed so they wouldn鈥檛 gain weight, buying him time until demand recovered. And even though Mr. Stateler had a close friend hospitalized for COVID-19, he doesn鈥檛 fault Mr. Trump鈥檚 handling of the pandemic.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think anybody could have done anything different,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou cannot blame this on one person.鈥�
Reducing 鈥渂urdensome鈥� regulations
Brigette Leach, a farmer in Climax, Michigan, another battleground state, says she also will vote for Mr. Trump, citing his rollback of environmental and other regulations.听
鈥淚 wish sometimes he didn鈥檛 tweet quite as much,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut on the other hand, that鈥檚 almost inconsequential.鈥�
Ms. Leach, who with her husband grows vegetables for direct sale to consumers and restaurants, is a regional board member of the Michigan Farm Bureau. In meetings, when farmers are asked 鈥淲hat keeps you up at night?鈥� their top response is usually regulation.听听
鈥淭he food safety regulations are a bit burdensome,鈥� she says. 鈥淚f [our operations] get much bigger, they become more burdensome and more costly.鈥澨�
Like other farmers, she is wary of the influence of Green New Deal proponents in a Biden administration, though Mr. Biden has disavowed the plan. 鈥淎nything that looks or sounds like the Green New Deal 鈥� I see nothing in any of it that bodes well for agriculture,鈥� Ms. Leach says.听
Not all farmers are standing with Mr. Trump, of course. 鈥淚鈥檝e been opposed to Trump from the very beginning,鈥� says Jacob Rieke, a hog farmer in Fairfax, Minnesota. 鈥淚鈥檝e always seen him as a terrible person. I think he鈥檚 done a terrible job for farmers.鈥�
Voting Libertarian听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听听
But some who reject Mr. Trump still aren鈥檛 prepared to embrace Mr. Biden.听
Dan Diederich, a dairy farmer near De Pere, Wisconsin, says he plans to vote for the Libertarian candidate, Jo Jorgensen. Standing in a muddy pasture, with sandhill cranes bugling in the distance, Mr. Diederich expressed skepticism about Mr. Trump鈥檚 trade policies. 鈥淢y gut feeling is that we are worse off,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut somebody needs to stand up to China. We had Obama as president for eight years. Did he go after China? No. It got worse. I believe wholeheartedly that Biden will not confront China.鈥�
A committed conservationist 鈥� he plants cover crops widely and thinks more should be done against climate change 鈥� Mr. Diederich prefers government incentives over regulations to achieve environmental goals.
鈥淭he Democrats made a lot of noise in the last few years with their environmental talk that farmers don鈥檛 like,鈥� he says.听
Jerry Biese, who farms in Outagamie County, says he worries about trade wars and dislikes Mr. Trump鈥檚 manner. 鈥淚 think he should wait before he voices his opinion,鈥� he says. But the administration鈥檚 policies have pleased him. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e trying to bring jobs back to the United States.鈥�
Still, Mr. Biese is a realist. Farmers represent a shrinking group 鈥� just 9% of Wisconsin voters 鈥� and he knows firsthand some of the anti-Trump feeling in the state. 鈥淚 have a daughter-in-law, if you say 鈥楾rump鈥� to her, the hair just stands up on the back of her neck,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 have a granddaughter the same way.鈥澨�
鈥淚 hope he does win,鈥� says Mr. Biese, perched on his tractor with his hood up against a north wind. 鈥淏ut in my opinion, I don鈥檛 think he will.鈥澨� 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听
