NBC poll shows US voters upbeat yet souring on state of economy
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The S&P 500 has fallen 6 per cent since President Donald Trump's inauguration.
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NEW YORK – Voters are starting to sour on the state of the US economy, even as the start of President Donald Trump’s second term has boosted positivity about the nation as a whole, an NBC News poll shows.
More registered voters see the United States headed in the right direction than at any point since early 2004, at 44 per cent, although a majority still say the nation is on the wrong track.
A majority of voters – 54 per cent – disapproved of Mr Trump’s handling of the economy in the first weeks of his term, and 55 per cent disapproved of his handling of inflation and the cost of living.
Just 18 per cent of voters rate the US economy as “excellent” or “good”, with pessimism among Democrats a feature.
Mr Trump’s overall approval rating was as high as it has ever been, at 47 per cent, although a majority – 51 per cent – disapproves of his performance, according to the poll.
The Democratic Party posted its lowest favourability rating in the history of the NBC News poll. Just 27 per cent of registered voters – and only 59 per cent of self-identified Democrats – viewed the party positively.
“With these numbers, the Democratic Party is not in need of a rebrand. It needs to be rebooted,” said Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates, who conducted the survey along with GOP pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies.
In CNN’s poll, the party’s favourability rating stood at 29 per cent, a record low in polling dating back to 1992, with only 63 per cent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents holding a favourable view. The party’s rating has dropped 20 percentage points since January 2021.
In each poll, self-identified Democrats say they want the party to hold the line on positions and do more to stand up to Mr Trump and the Republican agenda, even if it leads to gridlock. Democrats have yet to consolidate around a new potential leader, the CNN poll showed.
The NBC poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters from March 7-11 via telephone interviews and an online survey sent via text message. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The CNN survey was taken March 6-9 by SSRS, with 1,206 adults polls. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points. BLOOMBERG
