Trust

Happy Tuesday and welcome to US Election Countdown! I'm Steff Chávez, the FT's Washington reporter. Today, let’s dive into:

• Harris gains voters’ trust on the economy
• Arab-American voters remain wary
• IRA projects beset by delays

More voters trust Kamala Harris to handle the US economy than Donald Trump, a marked shift in voter sentiment since Joe Biden dropped his re-election bid.

Forty-two per cent of voters said they trusted Harris on economic matters compared with 41 per cent who put their faith in Trump, according to the latest FT-Michigan Ross poll [free to read]. Harris ranked 7 percentage points higher than Biden did in July.

The August results represent the first time our survey has shown the Democratic presidential candidate leading Trump on the economy since the poll began.?

Though recent market tumult and cooler than expected data have shown that Harris is still vulnerable to voters’ economic pessimism —?which significantly influenced perceptions of Biden —?there’s room for her to distance herself from the president. Sixty per cent of respondents said she should break away completely from his economic policies or “make major changes” to them.

She also has a higher approval rating than Biden: 46 per cent of registered voters said they approved of the job she was doing as vice-president, compared with 41 per cent who approved of Biden’s performance.

“The fact that voters were more positive on Harris than on Biden?.?.?.?says as much about how badly Biden was doing as it does about how well Harris is doing,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

But it’s not all good news for the vice-president. . . . Register for the FT to keep reading the newsletter for free .