In the latest FT poll, Donald Trump is ahead of Kamala Harris when it comes to the US economy

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Donald Trump has overtaken Kamala Harris as the candidate Americans trust in the economy, according to a new Financial Times poll. This underscores Democrats' struggle to convince voters that they are better off today than they were four years ago.

The latest monthly poll from the FT and the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business found that 44 percent of registered voters said they trusted Trump more to handle the economy, compared to 43 percent for Harris.

The results, coming less than two weeks before the election, mark the first time Trump has led Harris on the issue in the FT Michigan Ross poll.

The poll also found that Trump has a larger lead among voters when asked which candidate would be better off financially. 45 percent chose the former Republican president – a five percentage point improvement from the previous month – compared to 37 percent for Harris, the Democratic vice president.

The results suggest that Harris' economic policies have lost momentum in the final stretch of an increasingly tight race with Trump. The FT's poll tracker now shows that the candidates in the swing states that will decide the election are effectively dead.

Erik Gordon, a professor at the Ross School of Business, said Harris' economic policy proposals “produced as much disappointment as enthusiasm.”

“If she wants to win the election, she has to win it on other issues,” he said.

Voters' refusal to give Harris and her boss President Joe Biden credit for strong economic growth and low unemployment has been a persistent feature of the FT-Michigan Ross poll since it was first polled in November 2023.

Harris briefly overtook Trump in economic terms after replacing Biden on the Democratic ticket this summer, but that advantage has been erased.

Less than two weeks before Election Day on November 5, the poll highlights the major hurdle Harris faces. The poll consistently found that voters rank “economic issues such as jobs and the cost of living” as the “most important issue” in deciding their presidential vote.

Although Harris did better on economic issues than Biden did when he was the Democratic nominee, the party has struggled to convince voters that they were capable stewards of the economy. When asked whether they would be better off financially under Trump or Biden's presidency, 51 percent said they would be “a lot” or “somewhat” better off under the Republican. Only 28 percent said they would be better off under Biden.

Voters are still complaining about the high cost of living caused by the rise in inflation in 2022, which has led to high prices and continues to weigh heavily on consumer sentiment.

More than three-quarters of voters cited price increases as one of their biggest causes of financial stress, a number that has remained largely consistent in the 12 months since the survey began.

Trump has insisted he will lower the cost of living by cutting energy prices and taxes, such as tips and overtime for hourly workers and benefits for seniors.

Harris – who often describes her experiences growing up in a “middle class” or middle-income household – has proposed an “opportunity economy” focused on less affluent families and a federal crackdown on price gouging and subsidies would include first-time home buyers and small businesses.

The poll found that some of Harris' messages resonate in that regard: 49 percent of voters said she better represented the interests of the middle class, while 37 percent said they were better represented by Trump. Voters also thought the vice president better represented the interests of small businesses, workers and union members.

Trump – who has promised to further reduce the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 15 percent – was seen as a better representative of the interests of large companies and wealthy people.

But the Republican has also put protectionism at the center of his economic policies, promising to impose high tariffs on everything from cars to foreign-made consumer goods.

The poll found that a majority of voters agreed either “significantly” or “somewhat” with increasing tariffs on goods from China, while the majority of voters disagreed with increasing tariffs on goods from other countries.

The FT-Michigan Ross poll was conducted online Oct. 17-21 by Democratic strategists Global Strategy Group and Republican pollster North Star Opinion Research. It reflects the opinions of 1,007 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.