A new poll shows that half of President Donald Trump’s supporters would blame him if the U.S. falls into a recession.
The poll, released by Morning Consult/Politico on Wednesday, found that 42 percent of respondents who voted for Trump in 2016 said they would consider him partially responsible for an economic recession and 7 percent of those who voted for Trump in 2016 said he would be solely responsible for a recession.
41 percent of Republicans polled said they would consider Trump partially responsible for an economic downturn, while 6 percent of Republicans polled said he would be solely responsible.
Among all of the respondents, 69 percent said they would at least partially blame Trump for a recession, while 19 percent said they would not blame him at all.
The survey polled 1,998 registered voters from Aug. 16-18 and carries a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
The president dismissed concerns of a potential recession on Sunday, saying that the economy is “doing tremendously well.” White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow also refuted economic concerns on “Fox News Sunday,” saying there is “no recession in sight.”
According to a recent survey by the National Association for Business Economics, economists expect a recession in 2020 or 2021, with more than half of the economists polled saying that Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has had an “overall negative impact” on housing activity over the last 18 months.
Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he is “thinking about” a potential payroll tax cut to help strengthen the economy, thought he said he had been considering the tax cut for “a long time” and that the cut was not being considered out of fear of a looming recession.
Trump’s consideration of payroll taxes on Tuesday were in direct contradiction to a White House official’s statement to CNBC on Monday evening that said payroll tax cuts were not being considered at this time.
