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If you want to explain to a puzzled, left-leaning writer like The Atlantic's Annie Lowrey why most voters this year rate the economy during former President Donald Trump's term more favorably than the economy during President Joe Biden's, you might start with a pair of simple charts.
Lowrey said the Biden years have seen "the strongest economy the United States has ever experienced." She cited an unemployment rate below 4%, wage growth higher "than it was at any point during the Obama administration," and "stronger pay increases than any president since Richard Nixon." Inflation, she noted defensively, "has cooled off considerably."
All well and good, and you can hear similar thoughts from Democratic economists and Biden administration spokespeople, together, sometimes, with suggestions that many voters are, well, just not knowledgeable or sophisticated enough to appreciate the bounty the administration's policies have produced.
In response, look at the pair of charts tweeted by Republican consultant Patrick Ruffini as evidence of "how Joe Biden is losing the election with an economy like this." They come from an article in last weekend's Wall Street Journal by Greg Ip and Rosie Ettenheim.
After comparing rises in the Dow Jones average during the two presidencies, the writers explain that "a better measure of financial wealth is net worth: all assets, including stocks, bonds, cash and property, minus debts. Total household net worth rose 19% through Biden's first three years in office, according to Federal Reserve data -- not much less than the 23% through Trump's first three years."
That's reflected in the first of the pair of charts. The second takes inflation into account and shows the changes in household net worth. The first year of each administration saw modest increases, under 10%, but 15 months in, the lines diverge.