Paul Davidson

USA TODAY

The U.S. has made virtually no progress in a battle to reclaim its elite position in the global marketplace, a Harvard Business School study says, squarely placing the blame on a broken political system and coarse presidential campaign.

“We believe that the nation’s political system has now become America’s greatest competitive weakness, and that the situation continues to deteriorate,” Harvard professors Michael Porter, Jan Rivkin and Mihir Desai wrote in a report titled “Problems Unsolved and a Nation Divided.”

And the erosion of the nation’s ability to compete globally is the main reason for its sluggish economic performance during the seven-year-old recovery, the authors say.

This marks the fifth year that the school has assessed the USA’s dropoff in competitiveness compared with decades ago but the first time it has singled out the political divide in Washington as the chief culprit.

“The problem now is frankly that we can’t make progress,” Porter — widely considered the nation’s foremost expert on U.S. competitiveness — said in an interview. “And that we identify as a function of the political system. ... It just really hit us.”

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The 102-page report also castigates Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton for widening the political chasm. “The 2016 presidential race has done little to improve the discourse and shed light on the future steps we need to embrace,” the study says. “Instead, too often, the candidates create greater confusion” and “propose small, partial steps on some policy areas, or espouse simple, almost-cartoonish slogans without a real plan of action.”

For the first time since the Harvard researchers began the study in 2012, the Harvard alumni they surveyed were more pessimistic about U.S. competitiveness than they were a year ago. Fifty percent of the business leaders expect it to decline, up from 42% in 2015, while just 30% foresee improvement, down from 39%.

The alumni largely reaffirmed that they support the eight-point plan the Harvard professors outlined in 2012 to restore the nation’s leading status. Those recommendations include lowering the 39% corporate tax rate, highest among advanced economies; making immigration to the U.S. easier for highly skilled workers; improving infrastructure; and lowering trade barriers.

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Yet the vast majority of alumni surveyed believe the political system obstructs economic growth and competitiveness. Despite wide agreement among Democrats and Republicans on issues such as taxes and infrastructure, Congress remains deadlocked. On taxes, the parties “have wasted more than four years quibbling over a compromise number,” the study says.

The authors also favor more free trade, saying it will benefit the U.S., which has fewer barriers than other nations. Last year, a Pew Center poll showed most Republican voters supported free-trade agreements, but by March 2016, “divisive campaign rhetoric on the evils of trade had left 53% of registered Republican voters believing free trade was bad for America.”

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Similarly, Democratic candidates’ anti-business sentiment has “set back” efforts to build consensus on economic policy.

“The Presidential candidates have too often appealed to Americans’ worst fears,” the study says.

A Trump campaign representative did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The Clinton campaign said she “has put forth a comprehensive plan to support well-paying manufacturing jobs,” invest $10 billion in industrial infrastructure and “make America the world’s clean energy superpower, driving demand for jobs, equipment, and production here."