The relationship between the economy and presidential approval is one of the largest and deepest literatures in political science. Scholars have debated between objective and subjective economic indicators, retrospective and prospective evaluations, and what factors moderate the relationship between the two, but their symbiosis has rarely been in doubt. The importance of the economy for assessments of the president are so fundamental that it even has its own catchphrase: “the economy, stupid.”
In a forthcoming article in Political Behavior, my colleagues and I contribute to a growing body of evidence that suggests this bond has weakened over time, another casualty of the rise in polarization. CONT.
Kathleen M. Donovan, Paul M. Kellstedt, Ellen M. Key, Matthew J. Lebo, Political Behavior