Americans now view Democrats as better stewards of the economy than Republicans for the first time in nearly a decade, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Monday.

Some 37 per cent of registered US voters surveyed said the Democratic Party has a better approach to the US economy, compared with 36 per cent who picked the Republican Party. Another 27 per cent said they were unsure or believed a different party would do a better job, the poll showed.

The report noted that Republicans had held the advantage on the economy through most of the US President Donald Trump’s first term in office in 2017-2021, throughout former Democratic President Joe Biden’s four years in power and into Trump’s second term.

Trump himself credited immigration and inflation as the two key issues that propelled his re-election in 2024. He has repeatedly argued that he is better equipped than Democrats to manage the US economy.

The poll conducted Wednesday through Monday also found that Trump’s approval rating fell to 35 percent, down from 37 percent in a prior Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last month.

“Economic anxiety is usually bad news for the party in power. When people are worried about paying bills or buying gas or putting food on the table, they blame whoever is in charge,” Christopher Galdieri, a political science professor at Saint Anselm College in the northeastern state of New Hampshire, said.

“With Donald Trump in the White House and Republicans in charge of Congress, that’s whom voters are going to take their fears out on,” Galdieri said.

• A Tell Media / Xinhua report