A study published by the Economic Policy Institute on Tuesday finds that the U.S. economy does better when a Democrat is in the White House than when a Republican is in charge.
The study looked at GDP growth, job growth, inflation-adjusted wage growth, the unemployment rate, and more. It found that Democrats have had an economic advantage since at least 1949.
“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,” it says.
The study shows there is a “pronounced Democratic advantage in nearly every measure of macroeconomic performance.” Despite this, the study notes that Republicans are typically seen as better at managing the economy in opinion polls.
“It is difficult to tell what respondents to opinion polls have in mind when they are asked about ‘the economy.’ For example, respondents often rate the Republican party higher as economic managers yet rate the Democratic party more highly on issues related to healthcare,” the study says. “But healthcare is, by far, the single largest sector of the U.S. economy, affecting economic outcomes of households, businesses, and governments in significant ways.”
The study also found that economic gains are “distributed substantially more equally” when a Democrat is in the White House.
The study notes that not all of the economic figures can be attributed to policy, as some of it is simply luck, but the trend appears to be that the economy does better overall when a Democrat is president.
“One would expect that the large role of chance would (almost by definition) cut uniformly across the partisan composition of presidential administrations. And yet the Democratic advantage in economic performance by partisan control of the presidency is striking,” the study says.
