According to just about every significant economic indicator, including the December jobs numbers released Friday, the US economy is doing fine. Not great, mind you: Job growth stalled in 2025. But unemployment is low, gross domestic product growth is solid, and inflation is seemingly trending downward.
Yet as consumer expectations surveys, political polls and even election results keep making clear, Americans are extremely dissatisfied with how things are going on the economic front. This seeming disconnect between perception and reality has been the subject of much analysis, with partisanship, increasing negativity in both traditional and social media and lingering ...