When I learned that Democratic presidents created significantly better economies than Republican presidents since World War II, I was sceptical. I looked for official government documents that might prove or debunk this claim and found an Oct. 6, 2024, report called “THE US ECONOMY PERFORMS BETTER UNDER DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTS” from the U.S. Joint Economic Committee, a bipartisan U.S. congressional committee with members from both the House and Senate. The JEC studies economic conditions, coordinates economic policy, and advises Congress on achieving national economic goals like full employment, price stability, and growth. The JEC uses data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Federal Reserve System, the Congressional Budget Office, and other federal agencies.

This report shows historical statistics that “total job growth, unemployment, economic growth, manufacturing job growth and investment, small business creation, national debt status, and economic performance is stronger under Democrats.” It further states, “While there are many factors contributing to these trends, the point is clear that Democratic administrations consistently help the U.S. economy perform better than Republican administrations.” Why is this? The report answers, “Republicans have prioritized tax cuts that benefit the wealthy and fail to boost economic growth or pay for themselves, while Democrats have prioritized investing in the middle class, supporting small businesses, and improving economic resilience after downturns.”

In summary:

— Since the early 1980s, the unemployment rate tends to be lower at the end of Democratic presidencies and higher at the end of Republican presidencies.

— Since 1949, real gross domestic product, or GDP, was 3.79% average for Democratic presidents vs. 2.6% for Republican presidents.

— A near-record 19 million new business applications were filed under Biden-Harris administration, with more business applications filed in 2023 in all 50 states than in 2019, notably higher than under the Trump administration.

— U.S. national debt increases: Obama — 2013 through 2016, +$3.11 trillion; Trump — 2017 through 2020, +$6.98T; Biden — 2021 through 2024, +$2.84T. Increases are largely due to partisan tax cuts passed by Republican presidents that mostly benefited the wealthy and big corporations.

— Of the 11 recessions occurred in post-World War II era, 10 of them have occurred under Republican presidents.

I’m voting for Democrats moving forward!

Sources: Economic Policy Institute (epi@epi.org); Joint Economic Committee (jec.senate.gov); American Economic Association, https://www.aeaweb.org, Why does the economy do better?..etc; Fiscal Data.gov website.