Washington (AFP)

Bad news for Donald Trump: Americans are beginning to worry about the economic prospects of their country, according to a survey that also highlights a decline in its popularity.

The good indicators of the world's largest economy, particularly employment, are one of the central arguments of the White House tenant in his quest for a second four-year term.

"We will continue to win, win, win," he said Monday at a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina. "Today we have the best economy in the history of our country (...) and the best is yet to come!"

The latest poll Washington Post / ABC, published Tuesday, however, draws a more contrasted picture of the perception of US voters on this theme.

While 56% of Americans believe that the state of the economy is "excellent" or "good", this figure is down sharply from a year ago (65%).

In addition, six out of 10 Americans believe that a recession is "very likely or" rather likely "in the coming year.

Another worrying figure for the president in his seventies: 43% of respondents believe that his trade and economic policies have increased the chances of a recession next year against 16% who think they have, conversely, removed the spectrum of a recession.

And the look at how Trump handles trade negotiations with China is severe: only 35% of Americans approve of his action, against 56% who disapprove. Six out of ten Americans also say they are worried that the trade war with Beijing will increase the price of everyday consumer goods for their families.

The tensions between Washington and Beijing have since intensified with the entry into force of tariffs reinforced by successive waves. By the end of the year, Donald Trump plans to overtax almost all imports from China (some $ 540 billion based on 2018 imports).

According to the Washington Post / ABC study The popularity of Donald Trump among Americans of voting age is 38%, against 44% in June.

Calculations of the FiveThirtyEight site, which takes into account multiple surveys by weighting them according to their methodology, give a similar trend: the popularity rating of Donald Trump, almost constant since the beginning of August, s now stands at 41% (against 54.2% who disapprove of its action).

- Media "dangerous -

Visibly stung by the poll, Mr. Trump attacked in a particularly aggressive tone in the Washington Post and ABC, described as "dangerous" media.

"The ABC / Washington Post poll was one of the worst and one of the most inaccurate before the 2016 election," he said.

According to the White House tenant, the polls are "one of the most powerful weapons used by the corrupt media". "Many of these polls are rigged or done in such a way that a given candidate will look good or bad."

"Internal polls are good, have never been so good!" Concluded the Republican billionaire.

The Trump administration has been hammering for weeks that worries about the economy are unfounded.

"I do not see a recession in any way," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox Business on Monday, saying that Donald Trump's trade war against China had "no impact at the moment" on the economy of the first power of the world.

The expansion of the world's largest economy is estimated at 2% for the second quarter, down significantly from 3.1% in the first quarter.

The Washington Post / ABC survey was conducted by telephone from September 2 to 5 on a representative sample of 1,003 adults.

© 2019 AFP