It’s a bedrock assumption of American politics that a strong economy is essential to winning elections. Today, jobs and wages are growing rapidly, the stock market is at records and the public is upbeat about jobs and their financial prospects. But President Biden’s approval ratings are underwater and Democrats just lost the governor’s race in blue-trending Virginia.
Some of this reflects a polarized electorate less swayed by objective evidence of how the economy is doing and more by hot-button social and cultural issues. But it’s also because of an unusual economy whose problem isn’t lack of jobs but shortages, inflation and daily disruptions wrought by Covid-19. Mr. Biden’s agenda wasn’t designed to address that sort of problem, and in some ways may have made it worse.
