POLL: Economic prosperity boosts Trump in election poll, counterweight to his unpopularity

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Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour(NEW YORK) — Economic prosperity is boosting Donald Trump’s political prospects, helping the relatively unpopular president to a competitive position against his potential Democratic opponents in the fall election, the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll finds.

Key to Trump’s opportunity is a rise in economic confidence. One year before he took office, 63% of Americans said they were worried about maintaining their standard of living. Today, 43% say so, a broad 20-point drop in personal economic uncertainty.

See a PDF with the full results of the poll here.

Trump, moreover, gets a share of credit; as reported Friday, 56% approve of his handling of the economy, up 10 points since early September to a career high.

The result is a tighter contest for the presidency in this poll, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates. Among all adults, Trump trailed top Democratic candidates by double digits in the fall; he’s now cut those margins in half. Among registered voters, moreover, he’s now running essentially even in head-to-head matchups.

Registered voters divide closely, 50-46%, between Joe Biden and Trump, for example, compared with a 56-39% Biden lead three months ago. Among all adults, including those not registered, Biden’s ahead, but now just by 7 points, 51-44%.

The story’s similar for the other Democrats tested against Trump in this survey — Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Mike Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar. They range from 45 to 49% support among registered voters, while Trump has 46 to 48%. Among all adults, these Democrats range from 46 to 52% support; Trump, 43-45%.

Bloomberg, Sanders and Biden have statistically significant leads against Trump among all adults. As noted, though, these are down from 17-point leads for Biden and Sanders alike last fall. (Bloomberg hadn’t announced his candidacy at that time.)

Warren, Klobuchar and Buttigieg don’t have significant leads vs. Trump among all adults; Warren and Buttigieg did in the fall. (Klobuchar wasn’t tested.) And none of the Democratic candidates now has a significant lead among registered voters; in October, Biden, Sanders, Warren and Buttigieg all did.

Some of the latest results have been seen before; Trump also was even with Sanders, Warren and Buttigieg among registered voters last summer. But it’s the first time Trump and Biden have been this close.

The economy’s not the only factor. Among others, there’s a vast gender gap: The Democratic candidates tested in this poll lead Trump by 23 to 30 percentage points among women, while Trump leads by 15 to 24 points among men. If it held on Election Day, it’d nearly double the previous record gender gap in exit polls dating to 1976, 24 points in 2016.

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