Kamala Harris is more trusted than Donald Trump on the US economy
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More Americans trust Kamala Harris to handle the US economy than Donald Trump, according to a new poll, reflecting a sharp shift in voter sentiment after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race for the White House.
The survey, conducted by the Financial Times and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, is the first monthly poll to show the Democratic presidential candidate leading Trump in the national poll. economy since beginning to track voter opinion on the issue nearly a year ago.
While 41 percent of Americans still trust the former president more on economic issues — unchanged from the previous two monthly polls — the survey found that 42 percent of voters believe Harris will handle the economy better. That’s a 7 percentage point increase from Biden’s tally last month.
“The fact that voters are more positive about Harris than they are about Biden… says as much about how badly Biden did as how well Harris did,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the university.
Despite strong U.S. growth and jobs figures, Biden has struggled to convince voters that his economic policies are working for them — a trend that has continued after he dropped out of the presidential campaign.
Americans still overwhelmingly quote inflationary is their biggest concern when entering November ElectionAnd the poll found that just 19 percent of voters believe they are better off now than they will be when Biden takes office in 2021.
But the new one FT-Michigan Ross Survey Harris also showed she could distance herself from Biden on economic issues. Fully 60 percent of those surveyed said she should either completely break away from the president’s economic policies or “make major changes” to his platform.
Harris also has a significantly higher approval rating than Biden, at 46 percent. registered voter said they approved of the job she was doing as vice president, compared with 41 percent who said they approved of the job the president was doing.
However, the poll also suggests that underlying economic uncertainty among voters could still benefit Trump, who continued to criticize the Biden administration over its record on inflation during a nationally televised news conference on Thursday.
Just one in four registered voters rated the economy as “excellent” or “good,” and 42 percent said it would be “much better” or “fairly better” if Trump won another four years in the White House. Just 33 percent said it would be “much better” or “fairly better” under a Harris presidency.
“The poll is good news for previously nervous Democrats, but their worries are not over yet because voters still feel they would be better off with a Trump presidency, and most voters think about their own interests first and then about big policy questions,” Gordon said.
Trump also scored higher than Harris on some specific economic issues, particularly trade, with 43% of voters saying they trusted him more to handle economic relations with China, compared to just 39% who supported the vice president.
Trump has long advocated a protectionist trade policy with Beijing and has threatened to raise tariffs on imported cars and other consumer goods if he is given another four years in the White House.
Representatives for the Harris and Trump campaigns did not respond to requests for comment.
The FT-Michigan Ross poll was conducted online by Democratic strategists Global Strategy Group and Republican pollster North Star Opinion Research from Aug. 1 to 5. The poll reflects the opinions of 1,001 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
