Americans picked Democrats over Republicans as better stewards of the economy for the first time in nearly a decade in a Reuters/Ipsos poll, which also found their approval of President Donald Trump’s performance falling to 35 percent. The finding, in a poll conducted Wednesday through Monday, showed how Trump’s handling of the economy, including rising energy prices resulting from the Iran war, could weigh on his party’s chances in the November midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the next two years.
Trump’s presidential approval rating fell to 35 percent from 37 percent in a prior Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last month, with the share of Americans who give his presidency a thumbs up within just one percentage point of the lowest level of his term.
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Some 37 percent of registered voters responding to the poll said the Democratic Party has a better approach to the US economy, compared with 36 percent who picked the Republican Party. Another 27 percent said they were not sure or that a different party would do a better job.
Republicans had held the advantage on the economy through most of Trump’s first term in office in 2017-2021, through all of Democratic President Joe Biden’s four years in power and into Trump’s second term. A Reuters/Ipsos poll that concluded in May 2017 gave Democrats an edge, though the question was asked differently, with no option for respondents to say they were not sure or that a different party would do better.
