WASHINGTON - US voters view Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as better for the economy than President Joe Biden, as the incumbent’s approval rating ticked lower in April from the previous month, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Some 41 per cent of respondents in the three-day poll, which closed on April 14, said Trump, who is expected to face Mr Biden in the Nov 5 presidential election, has the better approach to the economy, compared with 34 per cent who picked Mr Biden. 

The rest gave answers that included not being sure or that neither candidate was better.

Trump’s advantage on the economy, which at 7 percentage points was well outside the poll’s margin of error, compared with advantages of 3 points in March and 6 in February.

Mr Biden, however, had a 9-point advantage over Trump – 38 per cent to 29 per cent – when respondents were asked who had the better approach to political extremism and protecting democracy, up from 8 points in March. 

Political extremism narrowly edged out the economy as the top concern for respondents in the poll.

The state of the US economy looms as one of the larger factors weighing on Mr Biden’s hopes of re-election.

Voters have been stung by several years of fast-rising consumer prices, though inflation has slowed considerably in recent months and the jobless rate has been below 4 per cent for more than two years. Mr Biden’s age, at 81, is also a concern for voters.

In the new Reuters/Ipsos poll, the share of respondents approving of Mr Biden’s performance as president fell marginally to 38 per cent from 40 per cent in March. The online poll, which surveyed 1,016 US adults nationwide, had a margin of error of 3 percentage points. 

Looming over Trump, 77, are four planned criminal trials, including one that started this week on charges he falsified business records and two others tied to his efforts to overturn his loss to Mr Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Trump falsely claims his 2020 election defeat resulted from fraud, including in a fiery speech shortly before hundreds of his supporters stormed the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021. Five people died.

The two candidates have been close in public opinion polls in 2024, with Mr Biden leading Trump by four points earlier in April in a separate Reuters/Ipsos survey. REUTERS