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More Americans trust Kamala Harris to handle the US economy than Donald Trump, according to a new poll that marks a sharp change in voter sentiment following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the White House race.
The survey, conducted for the Financial Times and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, is the first monthly poll to show the Democratic presidential candidate leading Trump on the economy since it began tracking voter sentiment on the issue nearly a year ago.
Forty-two per cent of voters said they trusted Harris more to handle the economy, compared to 41 per cent who said they put their faith in Trump. While Trump’s numbers were unchanged from last month, Harris’s standing was a 7 percentage point improvement compared to Biden’s numbers in July.
“The fact that voters were more positive on Harris than on Biden . . . says as much about how badly Biden was doing as it does about how well Harris is doing,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the university.
Despite strong US growth and employment figures, Biden struggled to convince voters that his economic policies were benefiting them — a trend that has continued following his withdrawal from the presidential…