On Economy, 46% Trust Republicans 42% Democrats

Voters now trust Republicans on just six out of ten important voting issues, while they trust Democrats more on the other four.

In early January, voters trusted the GOP on all ten issues. Two years ago Democrats were trusted more than Republicans on most issues. 

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 46% of Likely U.S. Voters trust Republicans on the economy, an issue that’s been regarded as the most important by voters for several years now. Forty-two percent (42%) trust Democrats more, the closest gap in a year, and 13% are not sure which party to trust more on the economy. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
 

Trust on the economy is clearly a relative thing, since 65% of voters don’t expect any serious action on the federal budget debacle before Election 2012.

Below the economy, in terms of importance, is the issue of healthcare.  Before President Obama was elected, Democrats had a huge advantage on this issue. During Election 2010, the advantage switched to the GOP. Now it’s a toss-up. Forty-three percent (43%) trust Democrats more to handle healthcare while 42% place more trust in Republicans. 

A majority of voters continue to support repeal of the national health care law and believe it will increase the federal deficit. 

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Two surveys of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters were conducted May 11-12 and May 15-16, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.