60% of Independents, 89% of Republicans say They're Better Off Today Under Trump than They Were 3 Years Ago

63% of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy, the highest rating for any president since George W. Bush following the 9/11 attacks

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Texas Insider Report) — A recent Gallup Poll has encouraging news for President Trump: 61%  of Americans say they are better off today than they were three years ago when he took office, and 62% credit him for the improvement. No incumbent president in the past three decades has enjoyed such a high percentage of people saying they feel better about their situation as does Trump.

And a strong majority of 63% also say they approve of Trump's handling of the economy – the highest rating for any president since George W. Bush's approval ratings soared after the terror attacks Sept. 11, 2001. 

In the latest survey, 61% of americnas say they are better off, 36% say they're not, and 3% say they're about the same.

The poll also found that:

• 62% of Americans say Trump should get credit for improving the economy
• 37% say he deserves a "Great Deal" of credit, and
• 25% say he deserves a "Fair Amount".
• 19% say he should not take much credit, and
• 18% say he deserves none at all.

Though such numbers are encouraging for the possibility of Trump's reelection to a second term, elections have not always gone the way one might predict based on how many people said their situation improved. 

In 2012 under President Barack Obama, just 45% of Americans told Gallup they were better off than they had been three years earlier, and 52% said they were not better off, making Obama the only recent incumbent to face reelection while most of the country said their personal situation had deteriorated. He went on to defeat Mitt Romney in November that year nonetheless.

​​​Almost three decades ago, in 1992, 61% of Americnas said they were at least as well off as they had been at the start of 1989 when President George H.W. Bush took office, compared with 38% who said they were worse off. Despite those favorable numbers, the elder Bush became a one-term president and lost to Bill Clinton. 

The results of Gallup's latest survey are divided along party lines:

• 89% of Republicans, and
• 60% of independents say they are better off
• 29% of Democrats say that's the case

The incumbent with the most bipartisan result was Clinton in 1996, when 49% of Republicans, 50% of independents, and 53% of Democrats said they were better off. 

In January, Gallup also found President Trump had reached the highest Job Approval Rating of his presidency at 49%.

• 29% of Americans say the economy is the most important issue for them when voting for president
• 26% cite health care
• 14% immigration
• 13% gun policy
• 10% education, and
• 5% terrorism

The Gallup survey was conducted from Jan. 16-29 with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.