Poll: Most Americans approve of President Trump’s handling of economy despite COVID-19

US economy will not recover until 2022, Fed survey says

A new poll shows most American voters approve of President Donald Trump’s handling of the economy despite the coronavirus pandemic’s devastating effects.

The survey from Navigator found 51% of voters either "strongly" or "somewhat" approved of the president's handling of the economy, as reported by Newsweek.

On the other side, 46% disapproved of the job he was doing on the issue, while 3% said they were “not sure.” The poll surveyed 1,022 American voters between April 28 and May 1, and it has a margin of error of 3.1%.

Navigator, according to its website, is a project led by pollsters Jefrey Pollock, founding partner and president of Global Strategy Group; Margie Omero and Nick Gourevitch, both partners at Global Strategy Group; and Bryan Bennett and J. Isaiah Bailey of The Hub Project.

Last week, 3.8 million more Americans filed unemployment claims, bringing the number of jobless claims since the pandemic began to more than 30 million.

»COMPLETE COVERAGE: CORONAVIRUS

Trump’s approval rating on the economy hovered at about 50% throughout April but has not hit the 51% mark since April 8.

When the latest Navigator data was broken down by party, Trump was found to have a 2% net approval rating among independents, with 48% backing his efforts on the economy and 46% disapproving.

While more than eight in 10 believe the economy was either already in a recession or headed toward one, most voters were optimistic about the economy’s chances of recovery during the next year.

Almost two-thirds said they expected the U.S. economy to be in a better position a year from now, compared with 24% who said they thought it would be worse.