Partisan views of the economy: almost comical from the right

A prime exhibit of what excessive partisanship does to the brain:

Writing for FiveThirtyEight, political scientist Michael Tesler observes:

"Even after a prolonged period of growth in GDP, household income, employment and the stock market during Barack Obama’s presidency, about 70 percent of Republicans consistently thought the economy was getting worse in 2016 — nearly the same share who are now pessimistic about the economy’s trajectory under Biden. (By contrast, fewer than half of Republicans said the economy was getting worse at the height of the coronavirus recession, when the U.S. economy was in its worst shape since the Great Depression.)"

As for any both-sides clamor, I totally understand Democrats' "partisan" gloom during the recent monarchy. Trump hadn't a clue about macroeconomic policy — or governing in general. And sure enough, the pandemic hit, His Majesty fouled up the national response in every way conceivable, and thus the economy blew up. Not to be too Marxist about this, but history dictated that something would strangle Trump's boasting about President Obama's markedly improving economy. Dems rightly anticipated just that. 

Tesler's even larger point is that "a media narrative … attributed Trump’s political rise to widespread economic dissatisfaction and anxiety." Yet that wasn't the case; Trump's rise came from a one-two punch by extreme partisanship and racism, the politics of resentment. "That’s confirmed by several studies showing economic distress was a weak predictor of support for Trump in the 2016 general election," notes Tesler. Nevertheless, the media persisted "with stories about his voters’ apparent economic grievances."

Given that Republicans will again persist in their grim and ghoulish tales of President Biden's economy, Tesler wraps with this: "Will we, as a nation, fall for the same trick once again?"

Well, the right's excessively partisan and racist voters sure will. The real trick lies in simply outnumbering them at the polling booth. 

Comments

[Peter G]

You know what makes this really special? The Republicans are convinced the economy is crashing. But adamantly oppose any administration plans to do anything about it because it is unnecessary.