A newly released poll shows nearly two-thirds of Americans say the economy is in good shape and and a slim majority say President Trump should get credit for it.
Seventy-one percent of respondents approve of the economy, the strongest showing since 2001, according to CNN.
A majority, 51 percent, of people surveyed also said they approve of Trump’s handling of the economy. The results additionally pegged Trump’s overall approval rating at 42 percent, while 51 percent of respondents disapproved.
The survey, which was conducted by SSRS and ran Thursday through Sunday, asked half of participants surveyed whether they approved or disapproved of the way Trump was handling various hot-button issues. The poll has been keeping track of some of these issues since around the time Trump took office.
On most of the issues, the Americans surveyed have not changed their opinions much. Approval of Trump’s foreign affairs sits at 40 percent, the same as the first time the question was asked in early 2017.
On taxes, 42 percent of Americans approve, down 1 percentage point from the first time the survey was conducted in March 2017, but up from when the Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December 2017, when his approval on the issue sat at 34 percent.
The issue of immigration isn’t going so well for Trump. The first poll after Trump’s inauguration showed approval of how he handled the issue at 42 percent, the most recent poll has it at 39 percent.
An area where the president’s numbers have plummeted is his handling of the federal budget. Although the poll has only asked the question three times during his presidency, in March 2017 his approval came in at 47 percent, dropping to 33 percent in September 2017, and sits at 34 percent in the most recent survey.
The poll shows Trump’s overall approval rating, now at 42 percent, has increased in two polls administered since early January when the U.S. was in the midst of a partial government shutdown.
