Nearly two-thirds of US voters say Trump has not made them better off
FT-Peterson poll casts doubt on whether economic arguments will boost president’s campaign.
Lauren Fedor in Washington and Billy Ehrenberg-Shannon in London NOVEMBER 4 2019Print this page322
Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they are not better off financially than they were when Donald Trump was elected, casting doubt on whether economic expansion and a record bull market will boost the president’s re-election campaign in 2020.
According to a poll of likely voters conducted by the Financial Times and the Peter G Peterson Foundation, 31 per cent of Americans say they are now worse off financially than they were at the start of Mr Trump’s presidency. Another 33 per cent say there has been no change in their financial position since Mr Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, while 35 per cent say they are better off.
Persistently slow wage growth appeared to be a main driver of discontent, with 36 per cent of those who said they were worse off blaming their income levels. On Friday, the US labour department said average hourly income had risen 3 per cent in October, growth that was near highs for the past decade but lower than before the financial crisis. Another 19 per cent pointed to personal or family debts as the reason they felt worse off.
The FT-Peterson poll’s findings underline the challenges facing Mr Trump, who is relying on his stewardship of the economy as a main argument for his re-election. The president has repeatedly touted stock market records and robust job creation as his administration’s most important accomplishment, and has angrily blamed the US Federal Reserve for any signs of economic weakness.
Last week, after the latest US economic data showed gross domestic product had expanded by 1.9 per cent in the third quarter, Mr Trump said in a tweet: “The Greatest Economy in American History!”
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http://www.ft.com/content/ce7e9f7c-fc13-11e9-a354-36acbbb0d9b6
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