Poll: 58 percent of voters approve of President Trump's handling of the economy
WASHINGTON — Voters’ attitudes about the economy will be the driving force in the next presidential election, according to the first Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service “Battleground Poll” of the 2020 cycle.
The national bipartisan survey of registered voters, released Tuesday, found that 59 percent of voters say they are very or somewhat worried about an economic downturn.
While President Trump’s overall unfavorable rating has remained steady at 55 percent since he announced his candidacy in 2015, 58 percent of voters approve of the job he has done on the economy.
Democratic pollster Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners said the Democratic Party will need to focus on the economy or “it will find itself in serious jeopardy for the 2020 election.”
Lake has conducted the “Battleground Poll” since 1991 with Republican pollster Ed Goeas of The Tarrance Group.
In his analysis, Goeas sees the economy as a way for Trump “to win over voters who might be put off by his sometimes abrasive personal style.”
Another key takeaway from the survey is that voters are already highly engaged, with 82 percent saying they are extremely likely to vote. But there is a deep partisan divide when it comes to whether the country is on the right track.
While 57 percent of voters overall say the country is on the wrong track, 74 percent of Republicans think the country is going in the right direction.
That's compared to 92 percent of Democrats who say the country is on the wrong track.
Gender will play a role in 2020, with men saying they'll vote Republican by a 9-point margin while women say they'll vote Democratic by an 18-point margin on a generic Congressional ballot.
This gender gap has been mainly caused by a decline in support for Republicans among married white women and white women overall. On the issue of the economy, however, President Trump still has a 58 percent approval from white women and a 63 percent approval from married white women.
The "Battleground Poll" surveyed 1,000 registered voters considered "likely" to vote in 2020 between March 31 and April 4. The margin of error is 3.1 percent.