NPR

The Economy May Be Losing Its Impact On Presidential Elections

Conventional wisdom (and some logic) says that a bad economy will hurt President Trump in November. But growing polarization may be severing the tie between economic health and voters' choices.
President Trump speaks as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (right) and Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, listen during a news briefing on July 2.

Here's one way of understanding just how far off the map the U.S. economy is right now: The U.S. has now had two straight months where it has added more jobs than it did in all of 2019.

And still, the job market has not even halfway recovered from the devastation of the coronavirus — the nation is still nearly 15 million jobs below where it was before the pandemic. Not only that, but with new spikes of coronavirus cases, there's a good chance that more job losses are to come.

Against this bleak backdrop, the presidential campaigns are making their economic cases in dueling events on Thursday. Vice President Pence is doing a roundtable on the economy

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR4 min read
A Car-free Town In The Amazon Serves Lessons For Pedaling To Net Zero Emissions
Afuá, a remote town in the Brazilian Amazon, banned motor vehicles over 20 years ago. Writer Mac Margolis and photographer Stefan Kolumban paid the town a visit to see what life is like.
NPR17 min readAmerican Government
What Did Trump Say? Explaining The Former President's Favorite Talking Points
Former President Donald Trump continues to ratchet up his rhetoric on the campaign trail, but if someone doesn't follow Trump all the time, decoding his meaning can get confusing. We're here to help.
NPR2 min read
Hiking The Azores Into Lush Mountains And Stormy North Atlantic Weather
NPR correspondent Brian Mann went trekking on Sao Miguel, one of the most remote islands in the North Atlantic. He found volcanic mountains, birdsong, solitude and lots of rain.

Related Books & Audiobooks