October 21, 2024
Most registered voters believe the economy is not doing well and neither candidate for president is particularly trusted to handle economic issues. Voters are split on whether former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris is better able to handle unemployment, the cost of groceries and housing, or tariffs.
Only 38% of registered voters think the national economy is doing well, while 62% say it is in poor condition.
The views of the national economy among all adults are very similar to those of registered voters. While their view of the economy remains negative, there are signs of improvement. In October 2022 and October 2023, about three-quarters of adults thought it was in bad shape.
The rosier perceptions are driven by Democrats. About 6 in 10 Democrats now say the economy is good, up from less than half last year. Large majorities of Republicans say it’s not doing well.
Registered voters are divided on whether they trust Harris or Trump to handle many issues, including specific economic issues like prices and unemployment.
Trump’s most consistent advantage continues to be immigration, where he has an 8-percentage point advantage over Harris among registered voters. Harris does best on climate change, abortion policy, and election integrity, where she maintains an advantage of at least 20 percentage points among voters.
Not surprisingly, Democratic voters overwhelmingly trust Harris to handle most issues, while a large majority of Republican voters have faith in Trump’s ability to deal with the issues.
Registered voters’ opinions of the candidates have not changed much since last month. In general Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, are viewed more positively than Trump or JD Vance. A large majority of Democratic voters have positive views of Harris and Walz, and Republican voters feel favorably toward Trump and Vance. Independent voters are closely divided in their opinion of Harris while most have a negative view of Trump. Independent voters have similar opinions about both vice-presidential candidates.
Forty-two percent of registered voters approve of how President Biden is handling his job and 58% disapprove. There has not been much change in Biden’s job approval with the public over the past two years. Seventy-five percent of Democratic voters approve of Biden’s job performance, while 95% of Republican voters and 66% of independent voters disapprove.
Registered voters continue to see the country as heading in the wrong direction. Overall, only 32% think the country is moving in the right direction while 68% say it is headed in the wrong direction. Fifty-four percent of Democratic voters feel things are going in the right direction, compared with 90% of Republican voters and 79% of independent voters who say the country is headed in the wrong direction.
The nationwide poll was conducted October 11-14, 2024 using the AmeriSpeak® Panel, the probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Online and telephone interviews using landlines and cell phones were conducted with 1,072 adults, including 957 self-reported registered voters. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.0 percentage points for all respondents and +/- 4.2 percentage points for registered voters.
- Suggested Citation: AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (October 2024). Registered voters are split on trusting Harris or Trump to handle economic issues.
