Broadly speaking, the economy has made gains in the last several months. The unemployment rate has held steady or dropped every month for over a year, and new data shows the economy grew this spring at its fastest rate in more than 12 months.<\/p>\n
A Wall Street Journal<\/em>\/<\/strong>NBC News poll found 71 percent of people blamed Washington for the economy\u2019s woes, and dissatisfaction mainly fell on incumbents overall, rather than on a particular party. \u00a0That poll found roughly half of voters believe the economy is still in a recession, even though the economic decline ended in June 2009.<\/p>\n Similarly, Gallup\u2019s index of economic confidence has remained unchanged for all of 2014. People are actually less confident about the economy now than they were in January, when the unemployment rate was nearly half a percentage point higher.<\/p>\n With just two months to go before the midterm elections, there are just a handful of major economic indicators due before ballots are cast, including a pair of jobs reports.<\/p>\n With so little time left, it appears increasingly unlikely that views will change enough to boost the chances of Democrats, who are trying to escape the gravity of President Obama\u2019s flagging poll numbers.<\/p>\n Some researchers argue the economic recovery has not been felt widely, with the majority of the gains going to people on the top of the income scale.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the economy is clearly improving, the benefits of that growth have only recently begun to reach middle class people,\u201d said Bernstein, a former economic adviser for Vice President Biden. \u201cPeople don\u2019t pay their rent or buy their food with GDP. It\u2019s got to reach their paychecks.\u201d<\/p>\n On Wednesday, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute reported that in the past year, wages have actually fallen for everyone but the very poorest when taking inflation into consideration. That study found that wages were stagnant or falling at nearly every income and education level. No matter how good the overall economy might be doing, voters notice the size of their paychecks most of all, experts say.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think voters will feel good about the economy until real wage growth begins to rise,\u201d said Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody\u2019s Analytics. \u201cSince most people have jobs, they judge the health of the economy based on whether they are getting a raise that covers the increase in the cost of living.\u201d<\/p>\n Democrats have tried to harness dissatisfaction over wages with a populist campaign message focused on economic inequality, raising the minimum wage and requiring equal pay for women.<\/p>\n While the NBC\/WSJ<\/em> poll found that women in particular were in favor of a Democrat-led Congress, it remains to be seen whether the populist proposals can overcome the broader concerns over the economy. \u00a0Many Americans simply have not benefitted from the “recovery.” \u00a0 It’s about jobs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Labor Day, Peter Schroeder and Vicki Needham write: \u00a0Democrats are running out of time for an economic savior. \u00a0They have long predicted that an economic turnaround would be the elixir that helps them retain control of the Senate in … Continue reading ![\"Job](\"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Job-Lines-in-US-300x143.jpg\")
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