I & I Editorial BoardRepublican 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.
Eventually, almost 45 million voters chose Clinton, who won 370 electoral votes, more than twice Bush’s total of 168.
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.
Clinton pollster Mark Penn admitted in his 2007 book”Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes” that he had “found over the years that there is often a huge disconnect between belief about the economy and the true economic state of affairs.”
“Until the statistics are actually published, people tend to assess the economy primarily through the eyes of the national media. In 1992, when Bill Clinton won the presidency based on worries about the economy, the statistics that came out after the election showed that the period leading up to November had actually been a period of record growth.”
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. Naturally, the media are happy to amplify the message. After all, electing Democrats is, as they see it, their job.
So they ignore:
- An unemployment rate of 4.1%, having fallen from a high for Trump’s second term of 4.5% in November 2025.
- Total employment growth in August of 569,000 to 162.75 million.
- Modest inflation in August outside of gasoline and related crude products — “not exactly” the “cost of living crisis, as so many claim,” says Powerline.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting a record high in August.
- An economy that is expanding and a central bank that “appears to be its most optimistic about the economy since it first start publishing forecasts in 2011,” reports Market Watch.
The Committee to Unleash Prosperity says that Trump’s first year of his second nonconsecutive term “was a miracle year for U.S. economy.” The highlights include the lowest child poverty rate ever recorded, down a percentage point from 2024; household earnings reaching a historical high, with incomes for the lowest 25% hitting their the highest level ever; and Hispanic and black poverty sinking to all-time lows.
Little of this will reach the American voter who gets his or her news from leftist media. Instead, they will hear the shrill whining and wailing laments of Hakeem Jeffries, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer, and the democratic socialists who have taken over the party in influence, though not yet in number.
Trump is not running this fall, but if he wants to keep a Republican Congress and avoid another impeachment, he and his administration need to talk about the economic achievements incessantly, tirelessly, and emphatically through Election Day.
Please, Mr. President, do everything you can to save this country from the socialists who are drooling over the possibility of finally Mao-ing the U.S.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
Support Independent Journalism
Issues & Insights was founded by seasoned journalists from the IBD Editorials page. Our mission is to provide timely, fact-based reporting and deeply informed analysis on the news of the day -- without fear or favor.
We’re doing this on a voluntary basis because we believe in a free press and because we aren't afraid to tell the truth, even if it means being targeted by the left.
We are 100% reader supported!!
If you like what you see, please feel free to donate.
And be sure to tell your friends!
Add comment