The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Trump’s under-performing 2020 campaign, in 2 key numbers

Analysis by
Staff writer
October 22, 2020 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
President Trump departs the White House en route to a rally in Erie, Pa., this week. (Amanda Voisard for The Washington Post)

President Trump has laid waste to many of the norms and conventional wisdoms of American politics. But among them could soon be a couple of the biggest ones — and not in his favor.

If there are two phrases that have come to define presidential elections over the past four decades, they might be these: “It’s the economy, stupid,” and “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”