US investors believe their stocks will do better if Donald Trump rather than Hillary Clinton wins the White House, but that confidence has eroded in recent weeks, a new poll showed Wednesday. With US markets trading at record highs, the Bloomberg Politics/Morning Consult poll said that 42 percent of voters who have stock and mutual fund portfolios, including in personal retirement accounts, think those investments will perform better if Trump is elected president in November.
That compared to 40 percent who believe their investments will gain more under Clinton.
But among the 880 investor-voters polled, confidence in Trump's ability to boost the value of their investments has fallen significantly. In June, the same poll showed that 50 percent thought a President Trump would be better for their invested wealth, compared to 33 percent favouring Clinton. The poll, taken last week just as Wall Street stocks surged to fresh record highs, gave no insight into why investor confidence in a Trump White House has slipped.
But the real estate tycoon's support among voters generally has eroded since the Democratic nominating convention in July, with Clinton now leading Trump 47.3 percent to 41.2 percent according to the Real Clear Politics average of national polls. Among investor-voters, Trump was favoured by a slight 41-39 percent margin as someone who would better deal with the situation if the economy falls into recession over the coming four years. In June, confidence in Trump to better manage an economic slump was higher at 45 percent.