Recent polls show, as they often tend to, that Americans trust Republicans more than Democrats on economic issues — this despite decades of evidence that GOP economic stewardship has been worse for all but the richest Americans and more prone to increase the deficit. The political mileage the party is getting out of the issue going into Tuesday’s midterm elections is especially baffling because, even as they bash the Biden administration for its economic policies, Republicans are generally avoiding specifics about what they would do differently.
But there are some clues. And they aren’t encouraging.
Republicans have for years so relentlessly promoted the message that they know how to manage the economy that Americans of all political stripes tend to believe it, even though the reality is far different. By just about any economic metric — unemployment, job creation, GDP growth, inflation, the deficit, even stock market returns — Democratic presidencies in the post-World War II era have posted significantly better numbers, on average, than Republican presidencies. That’s an easily confirmed fact using any reliable data out there.
