Cutting federal regulations on businesses was the most important issue to the poultry industry among four we presented to respondents in the most recent WATT/Rennier Poultry Confidence Index study. It was also the issue on which President’s Trump performance to date was rated the highest.
This finding is not surprising given that President Trump’s first two executive actions established methods and goals for regulatory repeal.
There were 20,600 new rules added to the Federal Register during the Obama administration, with 230 of those labeled as "major" as they were expected to impose an annual cost of at least $100 million each. The poultry industry has felt the sting of these regulations, with many citing the unnecessary costs and complexity as limiting new hires and the expansion of new or existing facilities. Several respondents singled out the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food & Drug Administration as particularly onerous.
Highest ranking on important poultry issues
There was a strong correlation between importance and performance for all four issues. As the importance of an issue rose, so did President Trump’s grade (and vice versa).
The next most important issues – with corresponding performance scores – were as follows:
- Improving U.S. trade policies with other nations
- Creating new jobs
- Reducing federal spending
A recent Gallup poll (April 21-22) showed that consumers also perceived cutting regulations as the Trump administration’s best action to date. However, the poultry industry graded President Trump higher than did consumers on all four issues, paralleling other recent surveys we have conducted.
Trump scored well among the poultry industry grading his actions so far to reduce regulatory burden.
In the PCI poll, respondents ranked (mean ranking of 1 of 4 in importance) the importance of issues as follows:
- Cutting federal regulations on business 3.188
- Improving U.S. trade relations with other nations 2.763
- Creating new jobs 2.193
- Reducing federal spending 2.046
