Donald Trump boasts about economy poll numbers, fails to mention voters hold Barack Obama responsible

Republican 'can hang his hat on the economy', says survey director - but must share honours with predecessor

Donald Trump has hailed a poll that suggested two thirds of Americans are happy with the country’s economy, but did not mention it also found that more voters hold Barack Obama responsible.

In the second of the US President’s customary early-morning tweets on Thursday, he said: “In new Quinnipiac Poll, 66% of people feel the economy is ‘Excellent or Good.’ That is the highest number ever recorded by this poll.”

However, the former reality show star chose not to highlight a separate finding from the survey, which indicated 49 per cent of Americans believed Mr Obama was more responsible for the current US economy compared to 40 per cent who thought the Republican deserved most credit.

The figures showed the proportion of voters crediting Mr Trump’s predecessor for the state of the economy has grown steadily from 43 per cent two months ago.

Assistant poll director Tim Malloy said: “President Trump can hang his hat on the economy, but must share the hat rack with President Barack Obama, as two-thirds of the country see the economic picture as excellent or good.”

More than a third of voters – 37 per cent – said they believed Mr Trump’s policies are helping the economy, compared to 29 per cent who said the opposite. Thirty per cent told researchers his policies were not making much difference.

Only a quarter, or 24 per cent, said Mr Trump's policies were helping their personal financial situation.

Quinnipiac surveyed 1,106 voters nationwide between 5 and 9 January. Their figures had a margin of error of 3.6 percentage points.