Does the economy matter in 2020?

Peter Coy has a big piece in Businessweek touching on a familiar frame: health vs. wealth. He says the president is gambling on a recharged economy powering him back to the White House.

But this framing, and the conventional wisdom it rests on, seems stale. “It’s the economy, stupid” used to have legs, but economic performance and presidential performance are on different tracks now.

Is the president making the wrong choice? Or is there something more going on?

What are your thoughts?

PS: Some of my students at Wesleyan are going to participate in this thread, so please be on your best behavior. I don’t mean that you can’t cuss. Just be respectful—and of course interesting!

—John Stoehr