The improving economy has helped President Trump keep the support of his “base” of 2016 voters strong, and is opening the door for blacks, Hispanics and younger voters to join them.
Citing those results in new surveys, Democratic pollster John Zogby is declaring that Trump will be tough to beat in 2020 despite his high disapproval ratings.
“President Donald Trump’s support is actually increasing among voters and offers data to explain why he may be re-elected in 2020,” he said.
In a blog post, Zogby, who co-writes the weekly Trump report card for Secrets, noted that more and more Americans believe they are increasingly better off since the president took office.
“More than two in three (68 percent) tell the pollsters that the economy is strong, while 32 percent say it is weak – and this includes 76 percent of men, 61 percent of women, 64 percent or more of all age groups, 57 percent and 58 percent of Hispanics and African Americans respectively, and 63 percent of political moderates,” blogged Zogby citing a new Harvard University-Harris poll.
“More voters say they are doing better off in their personal financial situation (31 percent) or about the same (38 percent) than the one in four (25 percent) who say they are doing worse off. The ‘better off’ crowd includes the 30 percent of Hispanics and 33 percent of African Americans,” added Zogby on the Forbes website.
The findings are similar to how the nation greeted former President Ronald Reagan, who ran on a reelection theme of “Morning in America.”
Zogby did a deep dive into the numbers beyond the standard approval ratings and found good news for Republicans and potentially bad news for Democrats. He wrote:
At this point in time, the president is holding his base. Significantly, 38 percent of 18-34 year olds feel good about the country’s direction – a possible pick up of support from a group that was not happy with his election.
More significantly from the Harvard-Harris survey is how voters view the economy. More (45 percent) believe that the U.S. economy is headed in the right direction than those who see it going in the wrong direction (40 percent). Here is where the cross-tabulations by demographics get really intriguing. In addition to stronger numbers within the president’s base – 53 percent of those 65 and older, 75 percent of Trump voters, 70 percent of conservatives, and 69 percent of Republicans – the view is rosier than one might believe among young voters 43 percent of 18-34-year olds and 45 percent among 35-49 year olds), Hispanics and African Americans (32 percent each), and independents (43 percent).
