Polls: Most voters agree with Trump on economic issues but believe the US is heading in the wrong direction

According to two nationwide polls released Sunday, most voters believe Donald Trump is correct in his assessment of the economy and the direction the country is heading.

According to a nationwide NBC News poll, a whopping 65 percent of likely voters feel the country is heading in the wrong direction and are more likely to trust Trump on economic issues (50 percent to 41 percent).

In a separate CBS News/YouGov poll, 59% of voters rated the economy as “bad,” compared to 39% as “good.”

Despite a gloomier assessment of the situation in the US, both polls showed that Vice President Kamala Harris continues to make significant gains.

Respondents to the NBC poll favored Harris, 49% to 44%. The CBS poll, which did not include third-party candidates, showed Harris by a similar margin — 52% to 48%.

The NBC results mark a sharp turnaround from July, when Trump claimed a two-percentage-point lead over President Biden (45% to 43%).

The Vice President’s popularity has also increased dramatically since July, by about 16 percentage points. Harris achieved the highest approval rating since the previous president. George W. Bush after the attacks of September 11, 2001, according to the NBC poll.

Harris’ approval ratings are 48% positive and 45% unfavorable, a significant shift from July when voters’ perceptions of Harris were 32% positive and 50% unfavorable.

Trump, on the other hand, had approval ratings of 53% and 40%, largely keeping him at the same level with voters he has enjoyed in recent months.

Despite the bright spots for Harris, only 28 percent of respondents thought the country was moving in the right direction.

A staggering 66% said their family’s income falls short of the cost of living, and 40% were concerned that Harris would take a similar approach to Biden. By comparison, 39% were concerned that Trump would take the same approach as he did in his first term.

The most important issue for voters in the poll remains inflation and the cost of living, with Trump holding a significant lead of 48 percent to 41 percent.

Other issues on which Trump is ahead, according to the poll, are the border crisis (54% to 33%) and crime (47% to 41%).

Harris held her own against Trump on issues such as advocating for moving the country in the right direction (47% to 43%), advocating for change (47% to 38%), abortion (54% to 33%) and other issues.

When asked about the September 10 debate between Harris and Trump on ABC News, 57% said it made no difference, while 29% said they would be more likely to support the vice president afterward and 12% chose Trump.

In Congress, 48 ​​percent supported the Democrats as candidates to take power, while 46 percent preferred the Republicans.

The poll was conducted between September 13 and 17 and included 1,000 registered voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

A separate CBS News/YouGov poll found a similar trend among voters who favor Trump on economic issues.

Although less than two-fifths of respondents rated the economic situation as “good,” it still represented an improvement from August, when the broadcaster’s poll found 62 percent rated it as “bad” to “good,” while 35 percent rated it as “good.”

Among voters who cite the economy as an important factor in their decision, 53% prefer Trump to 47% for Harris, a shift from August, when the ratio was 56% for Trump and 43% for Harris.

Nevertheless, according to the poll, Harris outperformed Trump both nationally (52% to 48%) and in the swing states (51% to 49%).

In August, Trump and Harris were tied in the swing states with 50 percent each.

Harris, who describes herself as an outsider, has a 2.2 percentage point lead in a multi-candidate race in the latest national RealClearPolitics poll. She also leads Trump in the RCP’s clear Electoral College district map.

Trump was largely the favorite in the polls before Biden dropped out of the race on July 21, and Harris has since narrowed the gap. In recent polls, she appears to have been boosted by the debate.

One moment of the debate that went viral was Trump’s claim that Haitian migrants were eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio, which local authorities vehemently denied.

Thirty-seven percent of voters thought the statement was certainly or probably true, while 63 percent thought it was certainly or probably false. A majority of Trump’s voters – 69 percent – believed it was certainly or probably true.

When asked about Trump’s plan to deport illegal immigrants en masse, 53 percent of the CBS poll found that he supported the proposal, while 47 percent opposed it.

Another key finding of the CBS poll was that 71% of respondents felt American democracy was under threat, while 29% felt it was secure.

The CBS News/YouGov poll examined 3,129 registered voters nationwide between September 18 and 20 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

Voters will make their decision on November 5 – in just 44 days.