Far more Americans trust Donald Trump to handle the US economy than Joe Biden despite months of strong growth, a new poll has found, underscoring the president’s difficulty in convincing voters his policies are improving their financial wellbeing.

The survey for the Financial Times and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business found that 42 per cent of Americans felt Trump would be the best steward of the US economy, while only 31 per cent chose Biden. Around one in five — 21 per cent — said they trusted neither.

The results compound a difficult week for the president, who was rattled by a withering judicial report that described him as an “elderly man with a poor memory”, validating many voters’ concerns about his age and mental acuity.