Not Just the Economy

Jay Cost writes the HorseRace blog on politics for RealClearPolitics. He has some sensible things to say about the President's falling poll numbers and the emphasis on the economy.

Does the economy matter? Yes, of course. But does political management and facility matter, too? Yes, of course. Unfortunately, it is hard to capture "facility" quantitatively.

If you want to graph the President's job approval against GDP or unemployment, that's easy to do. But what about graphing it against competence or ambition or boldness? That's not as easy, which means that quantitative analysis is usually going to de-emphasize these features, not because they are unimportant but because they can't be measured very well.

So, it isn't just "the economy, stupid." It is "the economy and how well you're perceived to be doing the job, stupid."