With the end of the Mueller probe and the news that the U.S. economy is performing far beyond expectations, President Donald Trump has reached an inflection point in his presidency. He has the chance to turn the political tides decisively in his favor, if he takes it.
Last week, we learned that the economy added 263,000 jobs in April — exceeding the 190,000 that economists predicted. This came on top of the news, a week earlier, that the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the first quarter, far exceeding predictions of 2.5 percent growth. Unemployment is at the lowest level in five decades. In fact, America’s biggest economic problem is that, according to The Washington Post, “the United States has more job openings than unemployed people” to fill those jobs.
Not only are people finding work, but their paychecks are growing. In April, wages rose 3.2 percent, the ninth straight month of above 3 percent wage growth. And the Wall Street Journal reports that wages for Americans without a high school diploma rose more than 6 percent last year, outpacing all other groups.
That’s bad news for Joe Biden. His presidential campaign is built on the rationale that he can win back the “forgotten Americans” in key swing states who voted twice for him and Barack Obama but switched to Trump in 2016. His problem is these Americans are doing better under Trump than they did under Obama-Biden. In Wisconsin, the unemployment rate is 2.9 percent; in Pennsylvania, it is 3.9 percent; and in Michigan, it is 4 percent. Are these voters really going to switch horses in midstream when they are doing so much better during Trump’s presidency?
