WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy is in great shape. Unemployment is at a multi-decade low. The economy grew 3.5 percent last year and is expanding at the fastest pace in four years.
Despite these good times, Democrats have worried that President Donald Trump could foment a crisis to distract voters from his sluggish economic record.
So far, evidence is mounting that he hasn’t. When questioned about the economy during his media tour following last week’s midterm elections, Trump and his advisers have either thrown up their hands and said he doesn’t care — or they’ve tried to blame it all on Democrats. Trump even used the term “rigged” when talking about the US economy in a tweet Monday.
But fear not, Democrats — the economic picture looks just as rosy for you. Take a look at how it stacks up versus the last several presidents.
A period of historically weak economic growth followed the great recession. From 2009 to 2015, the economy expanded just 3.2 percent a year. Even during the first two years of the Barack Obama administration, which were marked by deep budget and economic crisis, annual growth only topped 3 percent a handful of times, peaking at 3.6 percent in 2010.