Polls show voters now trust Democrats more to handle the economy

The issue that sank Democrats in 2024 now threatens to do the same to Republicans in 2025 and the 2026 midterms

Donald Trump won the 2024 election because of inflation. The issue was the most important to voters’ choices in 2024, according to a Gallup poll. And rising prices were generally a public relations nightmare for Joe Biden’s presidency — especially for Americans most sensitive to cost increases. Exit polling data from the Associated Press and NORC shows Kamala Harris winning just 48% of the vote among people with a household income of less than $50,000, down from Joe Biden’s 54% in 2020. The only group of voters who moved significantly left from 2020 to 2024 was educated, well-off whites.

Partly as a result of Trump’s victory, the conventional wisdom in American politics is now that Republicans have an unshakeable edge on handling the economy, and there’s little the Democrats can do about that. Some analysts view the party as “too focused” on “social” issues such as climate change and LGBTQ rights. Others use the metaphor that the Democrats are only earning “poverty wages“ for their eco…