Donald Trump’s administration has been stacking up some economic wins as of late as his Republican Party candidates prepare for the midterms. GDP grew at a 2.2 percent annual rate in the second quarter and is on track for more growth in Q3, and the labor market is holding firm. Wall Street is also enjoying itself—the S&P 500 ended Friday up 12.8 percent this year and less than 1 percent below its record.
The Nasdaq is up 17 percent. And yet, the latest polls suggest most Americans couldn’t care less. A poll published last week by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found 26 percent of Americans approve of the U.S. president’s handling of the economy overall.
That number falls to just 17 percent for Trump’s handling of the cost of living—a record low across both of his presidential terms. That’s because the economy is doing well—for people like Donald Trump. Most Americans are not like Donald Trump, and his administration’s impressive growth statistics and booming corporate profits are not the kind of numbers most Americans encounter on a daily basis.
Those are found on the sign outside the gas station and at the bottom of the grocery receipt. The president and some of his officials appear confused and thoroughly upset as to why a large portion of the electorate doesn’t seem to appreciate the administration’s hard work. National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett complained on CNN Sunday, "If I say, ‘oh, people are wrong, the economy is great,’ then it looks like I’m insensitive," he said.
"And if I then go into why the economy is great, then it looks like I’m insensitive." Hassett nevertheless argued that strong consumer spending figures suggested the polls were misreading how Americans actually felt about the economy, eventually telling Jake Tapper flat out: ‘I would say the pollsters are wrong.’ " Trump himself has lamented his administration's "bad public relations job" on the economy. Speaking at a celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month at the White House on September 30, he admitted that he had done "a very bad job of explaining" how well the country is doing—then immediately followed that admission with, "We’re doing better than any country in the world economically…Even President Xi, the first thing he said to me, ‘Wow, you’ve done a good job.’ " To get people to the polls and ensure they check the right box, the president has promised a $5,000 "Trump dividend" to every adult American citizen if Republicans retain both the House and Senate in November. The payouts, which Trump says would be financed by tariff revenue, would cost roughly $1.2 trillion according to AP estimates.
But that marketing tactic seems to have failed, judging by the AP-NORC research, because there are two realities when it comes to the American economy. Not only do most citizens experience the version that Trump—thanks to his family background and career—has been insulated from, but the president has spent months dismissing their basic concerns. The latest figures released by the Energy Information Administration put regular gasoline at $4.47 a gallon, $1.35 higher than a year ago.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
