In the final days of the most polarizing presidential race in recent memory, a new survey shows that supporters of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump share a number of pessimistic views about the state of the economy.
The survey of more than 1,000 U.S. voters by GOBankingRates finds that more than 80 percent of both Clinton and Trump voters are not confident that the wealth gap will narrow in the coming years.
Similarly, 60 percent of Clinton supporters and 61 percent of Trump voters are not confident that unemployment will continue to drop. Finally, 81 percent of Clinton backers and 76 percent of Trump fans aren’t confident that homeownership will become more affordable.
More Clinton supporters (46 percent) are confident that wages will increase in the coming years, however, than Trump supporters (37 percent).
Of course, perception of these issues is shaped by people’s life experiences and their own economic situation, not just the political ideology they subscribe to. There are also distinctions based on demographics.
Baby boomers, for instance, are more than twice as likely as millennials, the study finds, to express confidence in unemployment declining. One potential explanation is the fact that boomers have simply been around longer, have seen the economy in good times and bad, and generally enjoy greater job security and higher wages than young people.
Trump’s populist candidacy has shaken up the long-held assumptions about what Republicans and Democrats think about a number of issues.
For instance, unlike recent GOP candidates, Trump has insisted he will protect Social Security and Medicare as they currently exist, and attacked other Republican candidates during the primary over their support for privatization of the programs. Traditionally, it has been the role of Democratic candidates who have made defending entitlement programs, as Clinton continues to do now.
Similarly, Trump has upended decades of Republican support for free trade, and surveys now show that Democratic voters are more likely to view international trade positively. Generally, it has been Democrats in Congress who have opposed free trade deals that they view as facilitating the outsourcing of jobs to lower-wage countries.
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