There is an interesting cognitive dissonance around the economy.

The tone, the memes, the lived experience are all: We’re struggling to barely survive. But when this gets brought up in the context of the current administration and their policies its: Its the best economy in a decade.

When you look at polling data, its always the economy at first position in terms of how people are going to vote. I think the current congress and the administration really shot themselves in the foot with the what they approached as priority in current legislation. It was all “might make a difference to peoples lives in 5-10 years” and almost nothing that “makes a difference in peoples lives they can sense right now”. Its not like that bigger picture stuff didn’t need to be done, but convincing a few wonks on the edges doesn’t get you elected to a second term.

Ultimately voting is transactional. If voters vote for you and you don’t provide the goods, they’ll move on.