How will the economy affect Democrats' chances? The party in charge tends to be, rightly or wrongly, tied to current economic conditions in the minds of voters. So recent economic funkiness—a bad jobs report, trepidation about whether the Federal Reserve will act to ratchet down interest rates, headlines about stock market plunges abroad—could end up very bad for Democratic frontrunner Kamala Harris, reports Politico.
It's not just that, though. It's also that Harris is, to some degree, claiming the Biden administration's accomplishments and priorities (junk fees, student loan debt) as her own. So an economy in shambles would be a liability for her, in addition to the fact that President Joe Biden tasked her with handling the crisis at the southern border, which spiraled out of control and led to a record number of border encounters in December 2023.
