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Candidates Hopes Hinge on US Economic Sentiment

Republican vice¹ presidential candidate Paul Ryan says Barack Obama cannot hide his administration's economic record.

"We are not going to hear evidence and facts about how people are better off [under President Obama]," said Ryan. "You see the president cannot run on his record."

The argument echoes a question Ronald Reagan asked during his 1980 presidential campaign that defeated then-President Jimmy Carter when he asked, "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?"

Republicans hope voters will deliver the same verdict this year. The question resonates with a New York grocer.

Democrats² argue today's high unemployment rate and sluggish³ economic growth are the lingering effects of a deep recession that began months before Obama took office, during a Republican administration.

"President Obama started with a much weaker economy than I did," said Former President Bill Clinton during his Democratic Convention speech last night. "No president - not me or any of my predecessors⁴ - could have repaired all the damage in just four years."

But most Americans have yet to see their finances improve.

"We are in a very slow recovery," noted⁵ Gary Hufbauer of the Peterson Institute. "Wages have not gone up, and unemployment is still pretty high. Against these earlier expectations, things do not look so good."

Will voters punish President Obama for a tepid⁶ economy, or will they give him credit for helping⁷ the nation weather a devastating⁸ financial crisis? Both Republicans and Democrats are gambling⁹ that the answer to those questions will lead them to victory.