Why Republicans already feel better about the economy: WaPo columnist
While many Republicans have complained that they have been financially worse off under President Joe Biden, The Washington Post's Philip Bump explains in a Thursday analysis that YouGov polling shows the complaining has subsided since Donald Trump won the White House earlier this month.
"The polling firm YouGov has been asking Americans to evaluate their financial position for 15 years now," Bump notes. "That data allows us to see how the percentage of people who say their financial positions had grown worse over the preceding year spiked in 2021 and 2022 — as Biden’s approval ratings fell and as prices surged."
The Post columnist notes, "There was a spike in Democrats saying the economy had grown worse when coronavirus pandemic emerged in 2020 and another when prices climbed during the Biden administration," but over time, "their views grew more positive."
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"The pattern among Republicans, though, was much sharper," Bump adds. "During the Trump administration, Republicans were much more likely to say their economic positions had improved — and under Biden, far more likely to say it had worsened."
Furthermore, over the last two years, "more than half of Republicans have said their economic situations have declined over the past year," Bump reports.
"But suddenly, over the last month, that’s shifted," Bump emphasizes, pointing to a graph that shows the "downward shift in 'worse off financially' and the upward shift in 'about the same.' Among Democrats, views of how they fare now relative to a year ago haven’t changed much in the past month. Among Republicans, though, there’s been a 16-point drop in the percentage saying that they were doing worse a year ago."
This is, "unquestionably because, in early November 2024, Donald Trump won the election," Bump concludes.
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Read Bump's full analysis here (subscription required).
