Editors at Issues and Insights compare two Republican presidents who have faced blame for perceived economic woes at election time.
Republican incumbent President George H.W. Bush lost the 1992 election to the Arkansas governor who ran on the slogan “It’s the Economy, Stupid.” Americans voted for change after being told over and over by the legacy media that the economy was dragging. But it wasn’t. It had recovered from a downturn, yet the media continued to shop the lie, carrying Bill Clinton to the presidency.
We’re now in 2026, less than two months from the midterm elections, and the legacy media, which is nothing more than the Democratic Party’s propaganda arm, is doing the same to President Donald Trump in an effort to lift the Democrats to a congressional majority.
Clinton’s campaign was centered on his claim that the economy leading up to the 1992 election was the worst “in 50 years.” It was true that Bush’s term had a rough patch that began in July 1990. But “the recession ended in March 1991,” according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, and “an expansion began at that time.”
Read that again. March 1991. Not March 1992. Nor March 1993.
A 1996 paper published in the American Journal of Political Science found that 90% of the stories about the economy were negative and that “the network’s portrayal of the economy got worse as the economy improved.”
Yet many bought the Clinton campaign lies that were perpetuated by the media. They thought the economy was hurting. Bush’s approval rating for handling the economy fell below 20% in 1992, an abysmally poor number. …
… The lesson is the economy doesn’t have to be in decline to impact political races. All that’s needed is the perception that we’re headed downhill toward a cliff. …
… While Trump’s handling of the economy is at just 35%, according to RealClearPolitics polling average, the data tell a story that the Democrats don’t want told. Instead, they want to screech about an economy they claim isn’t working for everyone, and yammer on about affordability hardships their policies have caused.
