The Trump Administration Hopes "It's the Economy, Stupid" Holds True in 2020

"It’s the economy, stupid."

 James Carville is the Democratic strategist who famously coined that, while working on Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign in 1992. He meant people vote with their pocketbooks. In other words, when the economy is strong, the incumbent wins. That should be good news for the Trump administration because by many measures the economy is doing great. It grew at an unexpectedly high pace of 3 percent in the first-quarter of this year. The stock market is surging. Wages are up. Unemployment is down. Yet despite all this, the President's approval rating is still stuck in the low to mid-40s, putting the old cliche "it's the economy, stupid," to the test. 

Kevin Hassett, the Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, tells us that he expects the economic growth we have been seeing to continue this year at an even faster rate, and that's good news for Donald Trump's chances of re-election.

Heather Long, Washington Post's economics correspondent, says the economy may be growing quickly, but there is one big problem: rising inequality. Plus, she brings us up to speed on Donald Trump's picks for the Federal Reserve. 

Denise Murray, a farmer in Wisconsin, talks to us about selling her dairy cows because their upkeep had gotten too expensive. Mike Gallagher, a Republican congressman representing the 8th district of Wisconsin, explains how the Trump administration's tariffs on steel and aluminum have impacted constituents like Murray, and ponders whether voters in the swing state will support the president again in 2020. 

Scott Clement, the polling director at the Washington Post, walks us through a new Washington-ABC poll that shows that most people feel that our economic system benefits those in power.

And lastly, Lynn Vavreck, the co-author of Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America, says actually, there may be some issues that are even more important to voters than the economy.

Read Amy Walter's take here.