Biden-Trump rematch: How dueling economic records stack up

No president controls the economy, but he or she has to react to it. In this election, American voters will choose between presidents who both pushed through stimulus packages to help the nation recover from the pandemic tailspin in 2020. And both have something to brag about. Who did better? 

It depends on where voters look and how they care to evaluate the candidates.

On jobs, President Joe Biden is the clear winner. The economy created jobs at a faster rate than during any other president in at least three decades. But on wage growth and inflation, former President Donald Trump holds the edge over his likely rival in November.

Of course, timing and context matter in such economic comparisons. Both presidents could be called fortunate in that they inherited economies that were recovering from deep recessions: the Great Recession in Mr. Trump’s case and the pandemic-driven downturn in 2020 for Mr. Biden. They also both pushed huge stimulus packages to counter that latter recession, packages that goosed the economy even as they ballooned the federal debt.

While they each can point to significant economic policies during their tenure, it’s fair to say other powers – the Federal Reserve, OPEC, companies and consumers, for example – also had plenty of say over the direction and speed of growth.

The long-term consequences of these presidential policies still have to play out.

Many economists applaud Mr. Trump’s tax cuts, even as critics decry them as giveaways to rich people at a time of growing burdens of interest on the national debt.

Many environmentalists see Mr. Biden’s green energy moves as a major step toward controlling the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Still, the dramatic escalation of federal debt under both presidents will hurt the economy in the long term, most economists agree. And their restrictions on trade with rivals like China and Russia, while perhaps necessary for geopolitical reasons, are likely to slow future growth.   

Polls including a recent NBC News survey show voters currently trusting Mr. Trump more than Mr. Biden on economic issues. At the same time, a decline in the inflation rate has helped consumer confidence rebound strongly in recent months.