
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 19, 1991                   TAG: 9104190165
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

COMPETITION FROM JAPAN SEEN AS MAJOR U.S. PROBLEM

Nine of 10 Americans see economic competition from Japan as an important problem for the United States, an Associated Press poll found.

Three of four Americans questioned in the poll at the end of March said they think U.S. businesses lost ground to imports in the past year. Only 15 percent said U.S. businesses gained ground.

The telephone poll of 1,006 adults was taken for the AP by ICR Survey Research Group of Media, Pa. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

On the question about economic competition from Japan, 56 percent said it is a very important problem, 34 percent rated it somewhat important and 8 percent not important.

Yet only 14 percent in the poll said economic competition from Germany was very important; 44 percent said somewhat important and 35 percent not important.

Media coverage of the two economic powerhouses could account for the difference in public perception, said Jay Schmiedeskamp, an economist who is an analyst at the Gallup Organization.

"There's been an enormous amount of press about competition from Japan," he said.

Schmiedeskamp said a Gallup poll taken in October amid growing recession fears found 68 percent expected the quality of goods made in the United States to gain ground against Asian competitors.

Despite this optimism about the quality of U.S. goods, the AP poll found 75 percent of Americans believe U.S. businesses have lost ground in competing with imports.

Eighty-six percent of those questioned in the Northeast said U.S. businesses had lost ground.

Americans are split on why U.S. companies are no longer the leading producers of many goods. About half, 48 percent, say it's mainly because U.S. businesses failed to compete, but 36 percent say unfair foreign competition is more to blame.

When foreign competition is hurting an American industry, only 28 percent favor having the government fight back. Twenty percent say the government should not get involved, and 45 percent say the best approach for the government is to act to strengthen U.S. businesses.

by CNB