Majority of Americans say Trump and GOP responsible for the economy

Nearly twice as many registered voters said they thought President Trump was responsible for the current state of the economy compared to those who credited former President Obama, according to a new American Barometer survey. 

The poll, conducted by Hill.TV and the HarrisX polling company, found that 49 percent of respondents attributed today’s economy to Trump, while 24 percent of respondents credited Obama. 

Twelve percent of respondents said Republicans in Congress were responsible, while eight percent credited congressional Democrats. 

The American Barometer also found that 43 percent of registered voters said they would describe the economy as “good.”

The poll comes nearly a week after unemployment reached a 49-year-low in the U.S. for the month of September. 

The Department of Labor announced the unemployment rate fell to 3.7 percent in September, while the economy added 134,000 jobs for the month. 

Trump and Republicans have repeatedly taken credit for the growing economy, while Democrats have insisted the growth would not have happened without Obama’s policies. 

“When you look at numbers like that you have to be cognizant of the fact that these days, those expressions about positive views about the economy reflect as much about politics as they do about economics,” Democratic pollster Mark Mellman, CEO of the Mellman Group, told Hill.TV’s Joe Concha on “What America’s Thinking.”

“That is to say people who like the president say the economy is good. People who don’t like the president say the economy is bad,” he continued. 

“If you add the Republicans Congress into that, Republicans are doing a lot better than their vote totals right now,” Marist Poll.

The American Barometer, which was conducted on October 6-7 among 1,000 registered voters. The sampling margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. 

— Julia Manchester

 


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