Majority of Americans not seeing economic benefits under Trump, survey says

Americans say the rich continue to enjoy economic growth under the current administration

A majority of Americans report not benefiting from much from an economic upswing across the US since Donald Trump took office, according to a new survey.

While the richest Americans expressed the most satisfaction with the president’s economic policies in the Monmouth national poll released Tuesday, 54 per cent of those surveyed said they had not benefited much or at all from the seemingly strong economy.

Just 12 per cent of respondents said their own families have benefited a “great deal;” from US economic growth under Mr Trump, while 27 per cent said they have noted benefited much. Another 27 per cent said they did not benefit at all from economic growth under the current administration. A higher satisfaction with recent economic growth could be seen among the nation’s highest earners.

“There just isn’t a sense that Donald Trump has come to the rescue of the middle class,” Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement announcing the latest poll.

“[Trump] has his staunch defenders, but there hasn’t been any clear success in winning over the public on bread-and-butter issues," he added.

There were also clear discrepancies between socioeconomic status and those with perceptions of benefiting from recent economic growth. While the majority of the country reportedly does not feel it has benefited from the upswing, a majority of those earning six figures (58 per cent) say they have.

Meanwhile, the majority of those surveyed also said they felt wealthier families were benefiting from the administration’s economic policies, compared to just nine per cent of respondents who said the rich had not benefited at all under Mr Trump.

It wasn’t all bad news for Mr Trump, however: the latest economic polling showed a slight decrease in the number of respondents saying they are struggling to remain in their current financial state.

“One bit of good news in this poll is the decrease in the number of low income families who feel like they are struggling to stay afloat,” Mr Murray said Tuesday.

He added, “However, this does not erase the general sense that administration policies really haven’t been of much help to working Americans.”