Summary: The economy performs much better during Democratic presidential administrations than during Republican ones.  

Key findings

• Since 1949, there has been a Democratic advantage in the average performance of key macroeconomic indicators measuring economic health, including:
  • Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth
  • Job growth
  • Unemployment rate
  • Growth in inflation-adjusted wages
  • Growth of market-based incomes per capita
  • Inflation
  • Interest rates
• This Democratic advantage is across the board in all variables we measure but strongest in private-sector outcomes—notably, business investment, job growth, and the growth of market-based incomes. 
• Household income growth (adjusted for inflation) was faster on average and far more equal during Democratic administrations, and the Democratic advantage shows up for every group.  

Why this matters

We suspect that the simple facts on economic performance during Democratic and Republican administrations aren’t well known. Providing accurate economic information at a time of rampant misinformation supports an informed citizenry. 

Full Report

The US economy has performed better when the president of the United States is a Democrat rather than a Republican, almost regardless of how one measures performance…The superiority of economic performance under Democrats rather than Republicans is nearly ubiquitous: it holds almost regardless of how you define success. By many measures, the performance gap is startlingly large. (Blinder and Watson 2016)

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