US Economy Breaks Record, But It Doesn’t Appear To Be Benefiting Trump
WASHINGTON – The U.S. economy broke a record for its longest expansion ever on Monday, but a poll released the same day suggests the solid economy is doing little to bolster support for President Donald Trump.
On Monday, the United States began its 121st consecutive month of gross domestic product growth since the 2008 recession, a period that encompasses all eight of President Barack Obama’s years in the White House and the two years and 162 days that Trump has been president.
In addition, since unemployment peaked nationally at 10 percent in October 2009, it has steadily declined to near record lows, standing at 3.6 percent in June.
“The Economy is the BEST IT HAS EVER BEEN! Even much of the Fake News is giving me credit for that!” Trump tweeted Tuesday, basking in the good news.
Despite this, a new AP-NORC poll found that while two-thirds, 63%, of Americans describe the economy as “good,” significantly fewer approve of Trump’s handling of the economy.
Less than half of Americans, 47%, approve of Trump’s handling of the economy, while 51% disapprove, according to The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, and his overall approval rating, just 38%, remains low compared to past presidents in strong economic times.
In addition, only about 4 in 10 Americans approve of his handling of taxes and trade negotiations.
Perhaps most worrying to Trump and congressional Republicans is that while the 2017 tax overhaul was billed by the GOP as a tax break for all Americans, only 17% of respondents to the poll believe they received a tax cut, 33% think their taxes actually went up, and nearly half of those polled think their taxes stayed about the same or are unsure.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say the amount they paid in taxes increased in the last year, 42% versus 25%, while more Republicans say their taxes decreased, 25% versus 10%.
Most Americans also do not believe they’re personally benefiting from Trump’s trade and tariff policies.
Trump has imposed a tax on roughly $250 billion worth of Chinese imports, part of an effort to force the world’s second-largest economy to trade on more favorable terms with the United States.
China retaliated with their own tariffs that hit the U.S. agricultural sector, causing the Trump administration to provide aid to farmers with lost profits.
The president has also threatened tariffs on Mexico in order to get that country to reduce the border-crossings into the United States and has mused about hitting European autos with import taxes as well.
A mere 15% of Americans said the tariffs will help them and their family.
With regards to the national economy, just 26% said the tariffs will help, a sharp decline from 40% who said that in August 2018.
About half said the tariffs will be harmful.
Republicans, in particular, are less optimistic: half think Trump’s tariffs will help the economy, down from 7 in 10 in August 2018.
The AP-NORC poll of 1,116 adults was conducted June 13-17 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population.
The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4 percentage points. Respondents were first selected randomly using address-based sampling methods and were interviewed later online or by phone.
In The News
Health
Voting
Economy
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. restaurants and stores are rapidly raising pay in an urgent effort to attract more applicants and keep up with a flood of customers as the pandemic eases. McDonald's, Sheetz and Chipotle are just some of the latest companies to follow Amazon, Walmart ... Read More
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — During the gloomiest stretches of the pandemic, Dr. Diona Krahn's veterinary clinic has been a puppy fest, overrun with new four-legged patients. Typically, she'd get three or four new puppies a week, but between shelter adoptions and private purchases, the 2020... Read More
This week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics released data that the U.S. birth rate is the lowest it’s been since 1979, and one theory on why this is happening is younger individuals who are of childbearing-age are putting off... Read More
An official from the International Monetary Fund argued this week that the Middle East and Central Asia regions should shift towards a new and inclusive economic model as they emerge from the pandemic, echoing IMF claims that this is the time for a world economic shift. ... Read More
With the US unemployment rate essentially unchanged from March to April from 6.0% to 6.1% respectively, the American state of employment seems to continue on its positive track, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics latest report. Employment in nonfarm jobs increased by 266,000 in April,... Read More
The Small Business Administration began accepting applications on Monday for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, a program authorized in March by the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act. To receive funding, businesses must submit their application to the SBA on a first-come, first-served basis at restaurants.sba.gov.... Read More
