The Mueller report has cut into President Donald Trump’s support. But the economy may have done far more damage to his standing.

The Trump Administration can herald an impressively low unemployment rate and rising wages across the country, and yet a Washington Post-ABC News poll indicates that a large majority of Americans believe the robust economy “mainly benefits people already in power.”

In the poll, conducted April 22-25, questioners asked likely voters about the economy, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report about Russian interference in the 2016 election, and other topics that are likely to impact the 2020 presidential election. The results do not give the president a lot of reason for optimism as he moves back into campaign mode.

Only thirty-nine percent of respondents said Trump’s handling of the economy makes them “more likely to support” his re-election. Thirty-two percent said they’re “more likely to oppose” his re-election because of his economic policies. Twenty-five percent said it wouldn’t be a factor in their vote.

Notably, 60 percent of registered voters said the country’s economic system “works to benefit those in power.” Only 36 percent said it “works to benefit all people.” This means Americans from all over the ideological spectrum said the economy is rigged for the powerful. Writes the Washington Post: “About 8 in 10 Democrats and more than 6 in 10 independents say the country’s economic system gives an advantage to those already in power, while nearly a third of Republicans share that view.”

To be sure, that’s still a significant majority of Republicans who say the economy works for everybody. But the poll results suggest that populist economic issues such as income inequality and the high cost of a college education will be front and center during the general-election campaign.

The Mueller investigation has made 14 percent of Americans more determined to vote for Trump, according to the poll. Thirty-six percent are more likely to oppose him because of the special counsel’s conclusions.

The upshot: Fifty-five percent of the survey-takers said they would “definitely not vote for” Trump in the 2020 general election. This includes 15 percent of Republicans. Twenty-eight percent of the poll’s respondents said they will “definitely vote for him.”

Political strategist Evan Siegfried, author of “GOP GPS: How to Find the Millennials and Urban Voters the Republican Party Needs to Survive,” pointed out on Twitter that the poll’s “eye-popping news is 53% of seniors, a group Trump won by 9 in 2016, saying [they won’t vote for Trump in 2020]. Major shift in electorate getting little attention.”

Thirty-six percent of the poll’s respondents identified as independent, 29 percent as Democrats, 26 percent as Republican and 10 percent as “other or “no opinion.”

The Washington Post-ABC News poll offers poor numbers for a sitting president, especially one enjoying the tailwind of a good economy. That said, the election is 18 months off, a lot of time for voters’ opinions to harden, evolve or completely flip.

Read the complete poll.

-- Douglas Perry

@douglasmperry

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