Poll: Two-Thirds of Americans Give Trump Credit for Economy

Sixty-eight percent of adults and of swing-voting independents give credit to President Donald Trump’s policies for the good economy, according to a new CBS poll.

The mid-May poll of 2,223 adults shows that Trump gets credit from only 53 percent of Democrats — but gets credit from 65 percent of blacks, 60 percent of Hispanics, 69 percent of whites and 87 percent of Republicans.

Despite the widespread endorsements, many people are still cautious or even pessimistic about the direction of Trump’s economy, partly because wages have been stalled for several decades. Forty-two percent say they are optimistic for people like themselves, but 33 percent say they are pessimistic and 25 percent say they are “not sure.”

Wages nudged up in early 2018, amid growing worry among business groups that they may have to raise wages in Trump’s high-pressure, low-immigration economy. However, business groups are pushing Congress hard to get a new wave of wage-cutting migrant workers into the economy.

Seventy-eight percent of Republicans say they are optimistic — but only 39 percent of swing-voting independents said they are optimistic.

Among black voters — a core part of the Democratic base — 31 percent said they were optimistic, while 37 percent of Hispanics said they were optimistic. Those two groups’ “note sure” numbers were 31 percent and 28 percent.

The pollsters asked if Trump is looking out for the interests of the “working and middle class.” That questions showed him getting weak approvals outside the GOP. Ninety-one percent of Republicans said Trump is looking out “a lot” or “some,” but only 49 percent of all respondents, 47 percent of independents, and 19 percent of Democrats. He got at least 54 percent approval from pe0ple age 44 and upwards, but only 41 percent approval from people under age 30.

Thirty-five percent of blacks and 35 percent of Hispanics said Trump is looking out for the interests of working and middle-class people. “a lot” or “some.” Thirty-five percent of blacks and 30 percent of Hispanics said “not much.”

Younger people are both more pessimistic and less willing to credit Trump than are older Americans.