You might be interested to read "The Myth of the Rational Voter" , or other material by Bryan Caplan; he argues that the reason these policies thrive is not the

You might be interested to read "The Myth of the Rational Voter" , or other material by Bryan Caplan; he argues that the reason these policies thrive is not the uninformed public. Caplan argues that the public has strong beliefs in favor of the tariffs and protectionism, as a result of anti-foreign, and anti-market bias.