Forty-six percent of Americans disapprove of the way president Donald Trump is handling the U.S. economy -- which is now forecast to fall into an economic recession because of Trump's policies by 2020 at the earliest.
This new figure from a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll compares to Trump's 41% disapproval rating on the economy in early May and a 34% disapproval rating in July 2018. The poll also whows 49% of Americans still approve of Trump's handling of the economy.
Along with the rise in Trump's disapproval rating is a jump in public support for free trade, which Trump has effectively done away with due to his protectionist and mercantilist trade war that punishes other countries with high tariffs in a bid to reduce U.S. trade deficts.
The poll showed Americans approving of free trade by 64% to 27%, or a more than two to one margin. This new figure compares to the 57% to 37% approving of free trade earlier in Trump's presidency, and 51% to 41% near the end of president Barack Obama's tenure.
Independents, which will likely have an oversized effect on who wins the 2020 election for president, overwhelmingly approve of free trade by a 77% to 15% margin. Among Democrats, the statistic stands at 73% to 20%.
Republicans have become more accepting of free trade, 52% to 39%, after viewing it more skeptically early in Trump's administration.
As for Trump's re-election campaign, some 52% of Americans won't vote for him in 2020, a number almost similar to that in December 2018. On the other hand, 40% of Americans say they plan to vote for him in 2020, up two points from December 2018.
More distressing for Trump, the survey found higher support for a ban on military-style assault weapons in the wake of mass killings in El Paso and Dayton on Aug. 3 and 4. A 62% majority now supports the ban compared to 51% in June 2016.
Americans strongly disapprove of Trump's response to mass shootings with 52% saying they disapprove of how he has handled the aftermath of those tragedies. In contrast, 36% assent to Trump's handling of this issue.
The poll revealed 54% of Americans says the language Trump uses in his speeches and on Twitter bears significant responsibility for the shootings.
The telephone survey involved 1,000 adults, and was conducted from Aug. 10-14. It has a margin for error of 3.1 percentage points.
