# 24 Care About The Economy = Vote Republican---Right?

Ummmmm-- Wrong! I doubt Joe the Plumber or Sarah the Saks/Nordstrom/Neiman/Marcus shopper has looked at the following data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis which is part of the Department of Commerce. Note- this office is controlled by the Bush administration so no whining that these are "biased" numbers. This numbers may be surprising and uncomfortable for some but they can't be blamed on the "liberal elite".

Here is the data:

Growth of GDP:

Kennedy 1962-1965 (D)
The economy grew each year of the Kennedy administration with an average 5.6% GDP yearly growth.

Johnson 1966-1969 (D)
The economy grew each year of the Johnson administration with an average 4.2% GDP yearly growth.

Nixon 1970-1977 (R)
The economy grew in six of the eight Nixon (and Ford) years and fell in two years. The average of those eight years was 2.3% GDP growth.

Carter 1978-1981 (D)
The economy grew in three of the four Carter years. The average of those years was 2.8% GDP growth. Note slightly better than Nixon!

Reagan 1982-1989
The economy grew in seven of the eight Reagan years. The average rate was 3.5% GDP growth.

GHW Bush 1990-1993 (R)
The economy grew in three of the four Bush years. The average rate of growth was 1.8% GDP growth.

Clinton 1994-2001 (D)
The economy grew in each of the eight Clinton years .The average for those years was 3.5% GDP growth.

GW Bush 2001-2008
The economy grew in the first seven years and data will probably show shrikage in 08. In the first seven years the growth has been 2.9%.

Conclusion
The economy grew in 19 of the 20 years in which Democratic Presidents submitted a budget and in 23 of the 28 years in which Republican Presidents submitted a budget.

For the twenty years for which Republican presidents submitted budgets, the average rate of GDP growth was 2.9%.

For the twenty years in which Democratic presidents submitted budgets, the average rate of GDP growth was 3.92%.

Unemployment:
Kevin Drum formerly of CalPundit and WAshington Magazine used Department of Commerce data unemployment rates by party of the President for the period from 1948 through 2001. He used "lag times" of 3, 4 and 5 years in assigning responsibility for economic performance to a President. In each case, unemployment was lower in Democratic administrations than in Republican administrations. The GW Bush years are just ending so we don't have calculations on lag time but in his first 7 years Bush had roughly the same unemployment rate as Clinton. It is important to remember that Clinton inherited high unemployment from GHW Bush and GW Bush interited low unemployment from Clinton. Think what GW is leaving behind!

Deficit:
Growth of the federal deficit has grown under GW Bush more than under any other administration since 1960! See attached table.

Of course there are other economic indicators which indicate the health of the economy but one simply needs to open the paper to see how precarious the economy is at the end of an 8 year Republican presidency and when during 12 out of the past 16 years the Republican have controlled both Houses.

It is conventional wisdom that Republicans are better for economy than Democrats but like a lot of CW it turns out to be wrong.

I am sure that Palin and the McCain campaign will continue to try to frighten folks with the "S" word but the truth is our Democratic presidents have been good for the economy.