Voters Trust Republicans More Than Democrats on Economy
Republicans are still trusted more than Democrats to handle the number one issue on voters’ minds, the economy. But the parties are now essentially tied on six out of ten important issues.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 44% of Likely Voters trust Republicans to handle the issue of the economy, while 39% trust Democrats. Another 17% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
In late July, Republicans held a 10-point advantage over Democrats on this issue, 45% to 35%. The GOP has been trusted to handle the economy since early June 2009.
One-out-of-two voters (50%) now believe that President Obama’s economic policies have hurt the economy.
Government ethics and corruption, which voters rank second behind the economy in terms of importance, is an issue that voters still aren’t sure who to trust. Thirty-five percent (35%) trust Republicans, 35% trust Democrats and another 30% are not sure. Voters have been evenly divided on this issue since July 2009.
On the third most important issue to voters, healthcare, 43% trust the GOP while 40% trust the Democrats. Seventeen percent (17%) are undecided. Just after President Obama signed the health care bill into law in late March 2010, voters trusted Republicans to handle this issue by a 53% to 37% margin. Before Obama was elected president, Democrats enjoyed a large advantage on this issue.
Most voters continue to favor repeal of the national health care law and view the law as bad for the country.
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Two national telephone surveys of 1,000 Likely U.S. Voters were conducted September 14-15 & 18-19, 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.
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