Majority say they are not better off financially under Trump: poll

A majority of respondents in a new poll said they are not in better shape financially since President Trump assumed office.

The Financial Times-Peterson poll released Monday found that almost two-thirds of Americans said their finances haven’t gotten better since Trump has taken office.

{mosads}Thirty-one percent of respondents in the new poll said their finances have gotten worse since Trump won the White House, while 33 percent said their finances haven’t gotten better or worse in the same time frame.

Just over one-third, 35 percent, of respondents did say they have seen a positive change in their finances since Trump took office.

Of those who said their financial situation has worsened since Trump took office, 36 percent said their wages are to blame, while 19 percent blamed their personal or family debts.

The poll also showed an even split amongst likely voters over whether Trump’s policies help or hurt the U.S. economy. Forty-five percent of those polled said they believe Trump’s policies have improved the economy, while another 45 percent said they’ve worsened the economy.

The results come as Trump’s campaign continues to tout job growth and a better economy, including with a new advertisement released last week ahead of the October jobs report. 

The poll had a heavy partisan split, with just 10 percent of those who identified as Democrats saying they were pleased with the president’s economic agenda and 84 percent of those who identified as Republicans saying the economy is better off under Trump.

Financial Times editor Peter Spiegel cited the new poll as “part of the FT’s expanding coverage of US economic and financial issues heading into next year’s presidential election.”

“We want it to be the single point of reference for how Americans now answer that question Ronald Reagan made famous in 1980: ‘Are you better off than you were four years ago?’” he added.

The publication said it will be conducting the poll, which it has dubbed the “FT-Peterson US Economic Monitor,” on a monthly basis until next year’s election. 

This poll, which was conducted from Oct. 21 to 25, surveyed 1,005 likely voters nationwide and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The poll was conducted by Democratic polling firm Global Strategy Group and the Republican Northstar Opinion Research.