Poll: 71% Percent of Voters Say Economy Has Improved Under Trump

Nearly three-quarters of voters say that the U.S. economy has improved under President Donald Trump, according to a survey by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News.

The share of voters who give Trump credit for the economy is rising as well, up to 44 percent compared with 38 percent a year ago, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The share who say they are “very satisfied” with the economy is way up. In 2014, only two to four percent said they were very satisfied. This number rose to six percent in 2015 and was at eight percent in April of 2017, three months after Trump took office. In January of this year, 21 percent said they were very satisfied. This held steady at 20 percent in the most recent poll. These are both the highest very satisfied scores since March 2000.

On the other end of the scale, far fewer Americans are “very dissatisfied” with the economy. Two years ago, 29 percent of Americans were very dissatisfied, according to the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. In the most recent poll, just 12 percent are. The most recent figure is the lowest dissatisfaction share since January 2001.

This is made all the more remarkable because the U.S. was several years into an economic recovery when President Trump took office. Few economic prognosticators believed that Trump’s election would lead to such a dramatic turn in public perceptions about the economy.

In the WSJ/NBC poll from July 2016, just 64 percent of Americans said the economy had improved, while 36 percent said the economy had not really improved. The new poll shows the share of Americans who say the economy has improved rose to 71 percent and the not improved share fell to 25 percent.

Despite fewer voters saying the economy had improved in 2016, a higher number–49 percent–said they were willing to give Barack Obama credit for the improvement. Just 15 percent said the economy had improved but Obama did not deserve credit.

Resistance to giving Trump credit is much higher. Twenty-seven percent said the economy had improved but Trump did not deserve credit, up from 22 percent a year ago.

This suggests that those who have changed their mind on the economy of the first year remain almost evenly divided on the president. A year ago, 37 percent said the economy had not really improved, versus 25 percent in the most recent poll. Around six of those points were accounted for by those who give Trump credit, and around the same amount by those who do not.