The good folks at the National Republican Senatorial Committee can’t help but notice:
In the 1994 election cycle, unemployment actually dropped from 7.3 percent to 5.6 percent, yet the Democrats suffered enormous losses in both the House and Senate because voters had already made up their minds that they were unhappy with the direction of the country and even more unhappy with what they were seeing from Washington. Subsequently, the party in power paid the price. Fast forward 16 years later, unemployment now stands at 9.5 percent — almost four points higher than in 1994 — as we move towards the fall elections.
They also find a fascinating paragraph from an October 25, 1994, article in the Washington Post, about the paper’s latest poll:
Americans finally may be giving credit — though not much — to President Clinton for an improving national economy and the administration’s recent foreign policy initiatives in Haiti and the Persian Gulf, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. The survey found that a growing number of Americans believe the nation’s economy is getting better, not worse. Four out of 10 rated the overall health of the economy as excellent or good — more than double the percentage who offered a similarly positive evaluation just over a year ago.