The opinion research institute YouGov has found that, with regard to the economy, a majority of the US population has greater faith in Donald Trump than in the incumbent president, Joe Biden. Only 26% of the voters canvassed by the institute in February of this year considered Biden a capable economic policymaker. By contrast, Trump reaches approval ratings of 47%.
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But do the survey results align with US economic data?
Booming economy?
Claim: “Biden is destroying law and order, and our economy is in a free fall. Under Donald Trump … our economy was strong. We need four more years of Donald J. Trump,” US Senator Tim Scott wrote on X on March 28. Other X users also hark back to the “booming economy” under Trump.
DW Fact Check: Misleading
The first three years under Donald Trump were economically promising, with growth rates of over 2% (see graph). This does not, however, constitute a sustained “boom”. The definition of a boom is a period characterized by “a pronounced increase in economic activity, reflected in high growth rates, significantly above-normal capacity utilization, noticeable employment growth, and a bullish stock market.”
Trump started his first term in office on January 20, 2017, with US economic growth at 2.4%. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the economy…