The evidence showing Americans’ dissatisfaction with the economy is overwhelming. The latest Quinnipiac poll, for example, found that just 34% of voters approve of Donald Trump’s handling of the economy, while the latest CNN poll found that roughly two-thirds of the public believe the president’s policies have made the domestic economy worse.
Nevertheless, practically every day, Trump boasts that he has created the nation’s “golden age,” which includes the single greatest economy Americans have ever seen.
The problem isn’t just the gap between the president’s bizarre rhetoric and his ostensible constituents’ perspectives. Making matters worse is the data that exposes Trump’s claims as ridiculous. CNBC reported:
Economic growth was weaker than expected in the second quarter while inflation in June held well above the Federal Reserve’s goal, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
Gross domestic product, a broad measure of goods and services, increased just 1.5% for the April-through-June period, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers adjusted for seasonality and inflation. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for a growth rate of 1.8%, following the 2.1% increase in the first quarter.
Excluding the pandemic, the first year of Trump’s second term was the worst for economic growth in nine years. Halfway through the second year of his second term, the GDP data appears slightly worse.
Last September, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during a CNBC interview that Americans would see robust growth “six months from now.”
That was 10 months ago. He’s still wrong.
The point isn’t to mock these rosy-tinted predictions; the point is to press the Republican administration on the outcome. Over the past year and a half, the president and his party have implemented their regressive economic agenda, resulting in weak economic growth and even worse job growth.
The questions for the president and his team couldn’t be more obvious: Why have you failed to meet your own economic expectations, and how do you expect to deliver the results you promised?
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