Voters Give GOP 10-Point Edge Over Democrats on Economy

With lawmakers haggling over government debt and consumer confidence at a two-year low, voter confidence in Republicans to handle the economy is growing.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows that 45% trust Republicans more when it comes to handling economic issues, while 35% put more trust in Democrats. Nineteen percent (19%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) 

The gap was the closest in years in May when the GOP held just a 46% to 42% lead on the economy, which voters have consistently regarded as the most important of 10 issues regularly tracked by Rasmussen Reports. 

Voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on nine of those 10 issues. In May, Republicans led on just six issues after being trusted more on all 10 in early January. Two years ago Democrats were trusted more than Republicans on most issues. Still, there are several issues that the parties are close on in terms of trust.

Health care, which voters rank second behind the economy in terms of importance, is an issue the GOP holds a tight 46% to 43% advantage on. Before President Obama was elected, Democrats had a huge advantage on this issue. During Election 2010, the advantage switched to the GOP. In May, the parties were essentially tied.

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 national telephone surveys of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters were conducted July 18-21, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error for each survey 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.