I understand that there are arguments against industrial espionage. I am wondering what would make anyone believe that the majority of US citizens oppose industrial espionage. Polling on foreign policy issues of much more significance --- for instance, military incursions --- does not lead me to think that most people in the US have your "rationalist" take on this subject.

Do they oppose it when it is used against them? For instance when Americans hear:

A recent report to the US government, by aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman, describes Chinese economic espionage as comprising 'the single greatest threat to U.S. technology'

Do they simply say "Eh. Who cares?" If they do not like the PRC doing it, why should they like their government doing it? In a general sense I think its a pretty defensible claim to say that the majority of X country's citizens oppose industrial espionage. When you ask specifically if they oppose their own government (as opposed to agents of a company or the idea in general) the waters likely get a lot muddier due to nationalism and other factors.

This is a silly question. It's like saying, "Do US citizens support their troops? Well, do they support Iranian troops? If they don't support the Iranians, why should they support their own troops?" It's the kind of argument that only makes sense in the airless vacuum of a message board.

Except that 'supporting the troops' is held to be a positive thing and can be expected of any group toward their own, be them Americans, Martians, Nazis, etc.

While 'Industrial Espionage', or Espionage in general, has a negative connotation (in the same way theft has a negative connotation). The analogy you suggest is not strictly similar.

You're moving the goalposts. First, you suggest that US citizens are unlikely to support industrial espionage because they don't support it when China does it to us. Now, you suggest they don't support it because the word "espionage" is scarier than the word "war". Neither argument is strong, but at least be coherent.

That is not true and I have done nothing of the sort. You may in fact be reading something into what I said that I did not say or intend.

I used an analogy of the PRC spying on the US to show that Industrial Espionage is something the public would care about (notice the 'Eh. Who cares? part). It is an issue that evokes a response. Next I specifically state that the opinion of Industrial Espionage in general is negative:

In a general sense I think its a pretty defensible claim to say that the majority of X country's citizens oppose industrial espionage.

People may think it is 'justifiable' (for any number of reasons) but I do not think they would believe it is a good or noble practice (again note that I used the word 'general'). I then go on to clarify, by saying the opinion/matters get muddy when you ask specifically if their government should be doing it, rather than just discussing the idea in general.

I never said anything about 'espionage' being a more frightening word than 'war'. Because lets face it... 'war' is a much more frightening thing that generally involves a lot of death. You implied that onto the conversation.

Regarding coherency... I think maybe you didn't read what I wrote, but what you wanted to think I wrote (or were expecting to read).

So you're saying that a majority of Americans like to lie, cheat, and steal their way to the top? That they prefer to have this criminal activity done for them, by their government, because after all everyone else does it.

Well you're certainly leading this non-American to conclude that your nation deserves, then, exactly what it gets. It ain't so special.

Which country are you from? Maybe it'd be helpful for us to take a close look at how they've conducted themselves in the state of nature, which is where/how countries interact.

My country is irrelevant. It is your country that is screwing up the worlds' trust.

Out of interest how are smaller countries like Luxembourg or Moldova doing in this dept? Do their governments sponsor espionage actions?

People judge things differently when it is "safety" on the line versus "money". "Of course we need to spy on everything to keep us safe" and "of course we should not be spying just to help some companies make more money" are beliefs easily held in the same brain, and while I don't have polls to point to on the latter point (though I'd be hugely interested to see them!) I expect both are prevalent. I would not venture to guess just how prevelant the position against industrial espionage is, beyond "somewhere in the range of 20% to 70% of the population," however.

"Of course we should not be spying just to help some companies make more money" is another way of saying "of course we should not use US government power to ensure our continued dominance in the aerospace and telecommunications industries". In any country, I'd expect radically different answers to those questions.

I would certainly expect a gap between the answers; I'm not confident about the size. The latter glosses over how the power is used, too. Obviously more people would support trade deals than assassinations - presumably espionage falls somewhere between.