Lack of Trust, Campaigning and Opposition against the TTIP

In some EU countries, most notably in Austria and Germany, anti-TTIP protests and political campaigns received substantial support. The article is concerned with the correlates of public support or disapproval of the TTIP. In particular, we focus on the role of confidence in companies and in political institutions for attitude formation concerning economic regulation. For the empirical assessment we use data from a Eurobarometer Survey. Our results indicate that reduced TTIP support is highly correlated with a lack of trust in the European Commission and in big companies. Moreover, intense anti-TTIP political campaigning in selected countries is related to high rates of disapproval.