Why Does Trump’s Political Standing Remain Stable?

It’s the economy, stupid, as James Carville, Bill Clinton’s adviser, famously quipped during the Bush (H.W.)/Clinton presidential campaign.

President Trump, despite operating in an atmosphere of emergency, crisis and imminent doom, even before he was inaugurated, seems to move on.

But why and how? Here are a handful of reasons from Matthew Continetti in NRO:

#1: The Remarkable State of the American Economy

• Election Day 2016, DJIA closed at 18,332.43.
• August 29, DJIA closed at 26,124.57.
• That’s an increase of some 40%.

#2: Growth in GDP

• 1.5% in 2016
• 2.3% in 2017
• 4.2% most recent number (2018)

#3: Jobs Engine Humming Along

• Unemployment 3.9%,
• Record low unemployment among minorities.
• Workers say they are satisfied with their jobs at the highest rate since 2005.

#4: Still More:

• Median household income and per capita disposable income at all-time highs.
• Consumers are spending.
• Confidence is near an 18-year high.
• Harvard-Harris poll: 85% of blue-collar workers say things are headed in the right direction.
• Median household income and per capita disposable income at all-time highs.

The overwhelmingly negative coverage of Trump paradoxically works to (Trump’s) advantage by driving his supporters to rally to his side. When the press gets a story wrong, Trump is vindicated. His voters have less reason to trust the elite media institutions they see as allied against them in a struggle over American identity.

Matthew’s piece originally appeared in the Washington Free Beacon.