More than half of Democrats queried in a recent Economist/YouGov poll said they support free trade as opposed to only 42 percent of Republicans, a surprising number as Republicans have traditionally been thought of as keen on economic systems that operate with unobstructed competition.

YouGov conducted the poll after President-elect Donald Trump cut a deal with Carrier in Indianapolis to halt relocating part of its operation overseas, a move that saved about 800 jobs.

One question asked whether voters agreed with the following statement: "The free market has been sorting [the economy] out and America's been losing.”

Fifty-seven percent of Republicans and 33 percent of Democrats responded "Yes." The poll was completed Dec. 3-5 with 1,417 respondents and a +/- 3.2 percent margin of error.

"The free market has been sorting [the economy] out and America’s been losing"



% Agree:



Democrats: 33%

Republicans: 57% pic.twitter.com/lwCZzMTFqF — Will Jordan (@williamjordann) December 6, 2016

A similar poll was conducted in August by the Pew Research Center, as reported by New York magazine, where 61 percent of Republicans said they thought trade agreements hurt the country, while only 32 percent thought they helped. That poll showed where the Trump affect Republican voter views on free trade took hold during his presidential campaign.