Consumers are spending, inflation is cooling, and the American economy appears to be on solid footing, according to a government report released today that showed that G.D.P. expanded at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the third quarter.
Less than a week before Election Day, the continued growth offers voters an indication that the economy has rebounded since the pandemic. However, after years of high inflation, a large majority of voters rate the economy as only fair or poor. The lasting discontent could play a crucial role in deciding the next president.
Voters in the latest Times poll rated the economy as the most important issue in the election, as they have in every Times poll this year. They have also said in each poll that they trusted Donald Trump on the economy more than Kamala Harris, though Harris has closed the gap to six points from 13 over the last month.
“When Trump taps into voters’ concerns over the economy, it can be very effective,” my colleague, Michael Gold, who covers Trump’s campaign, told me. “A lot of voters see the economy as a referendum on the current administration, and when Trump focuses on that, he can be very strong.”
The trouble for Trump, Michael said, is that he rarely sticks to the script. His advisers have urged him to talk more about the economy, but he has made clear in recent weeks that he prefers to talk about immigration. He credits the issue as the reason he won in 2016 and has turned multiple economy-focused events into speeches about border control.
In other politics news:
The Supreme Court allowed Virginia to purge about 1,600 possibly ineligible voters from its rolls.
Harris tried to distance herself from President Biden’s muddled remarks that appeared to refer to Trump supporters as “garbage.”
Arizona remains a “jump ball.” Republicans are banking on immigration and Democrats on abortion rights.
Big-money operatives are taking advantage of lax rules.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor and former Republican governor of California, endorsed Harris.
We fact-checked Harris’s speech last night.
When will the election be called? Here’s what we know.