Former president Donald Trump leads Vice President Kamala Harris by a nine-point margin on their respective administrations’ handling of the economy, signifying that a majority of American voters trust the GOP nominee more over the Democratic candidate on the policy issue.
Trump received 54-percent support on the economy compared to Harris’s 45 percent, according to a new Gallup poll released Wednesday. Trump also led Harris on immigration by the same margin and outperformed her on foreign affairs by five points, while Harris performed better on climate change, abortion, and health care. The two were tied for their positions on gun policy.
Fifty-two percent of voters rated the economy as “extremely important,” and another 38 percent considered it “very important.” The economy has reached its highest point in terms of utmost importance to the outcome of the 2024 presidential election since 2008’s Great Recession. At the time, 55 percent of voters rated the economy as extremely important.
In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, 44 percent of voters said the economy was an extremely important issue for the presidential election that year.
None of the other issues topped the 50-percent mark as an extremely important issue for voters, Gallup found.
The economy and immigration remain the top two issues for Republicans, while Democrats are more concerned about the state of democracy in the U.S. and potential picks for Supreme Court justices. About two-thirds of Republicans say the economy is extremely important to their votes, and only 36 percent of Democrats say the same.
The partisan divide regarding voters’ views on the economy differs greatly from the pollster’s rating in 2008 when both parties ranked it as their top issue.
Ninety-seven percent of Republican and right-leaning voters preferred Trump to handle the economy and immigration as expected. Eighty-eight percent of Democratic and left-leaning voters preferred Harris to handle both issues.
While partisan voters largely favor their respective candidate, just under half of all voters are roughly split on whether they agree or disagree with the presidential nominees about the issues that matter most to them. Forty-nine percent say they agree with Trump on their most important issues, whereas 47 percent say the same of Harris.
Gallup conducted the poll from September 16 to 28, surveying 941 registered voters via telephone interviews. The margin of error was four percent.
Trump touts his role in creating one of the strongest U.S. economies ever during his administration, according to his campaign platform. If re-elected, he seeks to lower taxes and create more jobs for American workers. Trump contrasts his administration to Biden and Harris’s economic record, which was characterized by record inflation and high government spending.
Harris intends to create an “opportunity economy,” which her campaign website defines as an economy in which “everyone can compete and have a real chance to succeed.” The vice president’s economic platform involves lowering the cost of living and cutting taxes for middle-class families, as well as supporting small businesses and investing in entrepreneurs.