NPR This is the indicator from Planet Money, I'm Adrian Mar, and I'm Darren Woods.

This election season when pollsters have asked voters what their most important issue is,

again and again they've said the economy and asked how they feel

about that economy the answer for a lot of them is bad that is despite some

positive economic trends the vibes are just off.

For example in a recent Guardian poll, half of those surveyed said the stock market is down

this year.

Even though it's actually way up. Half also think unemployment is at

50-year highs. Even though it's been near 50-year lows and a lot of people think

we're in a recession. Even though we're not.

And what's more, many voters blame President Biden for this.

People have a fairly bleak outlook, despite strong growth,

strong unemployment numbers, strong job numbers. People are blaming

Biden for things like increased prices or they blame Biden for the fact that they

can't buy a home. That's NPR's senior political editor and correspondent Domenico

Montenegro. He says at the same time many voters are dinging Biden for the

economy under his watch, many feel the opposite way about former

President Trump. People have a bit of nostalgia for the Trump presidency and the Trump economy pre-Covid.

The economy goes up, it goes down, sometimes it goes sideways and circles and twirling and twirling towards freedom

But but how much of that is actually because of the president?

Today on the show why the economy is like a ship with no captain,

and how tribalism increasingly shapes how we feel

...