Submitted by CARPE DIEM

The charts above (click to enlarge) are from Cato Institute’s “Free Trade, Free Markets: Rating the Congress,” an interactive web site that allows users to examine how Congress and its individual members have voted on bills and amendments affecting the freedom of Americans to trade and invest in the global economy.

You can search by individual member of Congress, or by a particular bill, or by party breakdown on a particular bill, see below:

Bottom Line: When it comes to the voting records of the main presidential candidates on free trade, John McCain is clearly a “Free Trader,” Hillary Clinton is clearly an “Interventionist,” and Obama is leaning towards being an “Interventionist.” It’s also the case that Republicans as a group have a much stronger free trade voting record than Democrats on most bills. With either Clinton or Obama in the White House, we can probably expect more protectionism and less free trade.

Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.