American and Canadian Assessments of NAFTA

Abstract

This article both analyzes the differences between Americans and Canadians with respect to their knowledge of NAFTA and their assessment of its benefits and tests models to assess what types of variables drive such knowledge and assessments. These variables include level of identification with the continent, acceptance of national disintegration, opinions about managing sovereignty, socioeconomic and demographic variables, and an indicator of political party spectrum preferences. Some of the more noteworthy simple findings are that Americans and Canadians differ in their knowledge of NAFTA, their assessment of its benefits, level of continental identification, acceptance of national disintegration, and the ways in which they approach the management of sovereignty. At a more complex level, multivariate models for the two countries show that assessments and knowledge of NAFTA are driven by different variables or by the same variables but in different directions. This has implications for the future evolution of continental policy.