The economy’s good. The economy’s bad.
It depends on who you ask — and increasingly which party is in the White House when you ask.
It was yet another strong jobs report Friday, exceeding expectations. Almost 200,000 jobs were created last month and unemployment dropped to 3.7%, which is near full employment.
People are also spending at a record rate this holiday shopping season — 200 million people shopped between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, higher than expectations and the most ever.
Despite all that, pessimism about the economy reigns.
Both Gallup and the Pew Research Center found just 1 in 5 rated the economy as either excellent or good.
Inflation, which has led to higher grocery and gas bills than Americans would like, is partially to blame for souring their moods. But there’s more going on here.
There is a huge divide by party on the question of the economy, and there’s a stark switch that’s been taking place when there’s a new administration. And this party-line view of the economy is particularly noticeable among Republicans.
For example, according to Pew, in 2016 when former President Obama, a Democrat, was in office, just 18% of Republicans thought the economy was either good or excellent.
But in 2020, with Trump, a Republican, in office, that jumped to a whopping 81%. And this year, with Biden in the White House, Republicans’ positive views of the economy tanked to just 10%.
Read more at NPR.org
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