The economy of the United States is growing, inflation has finally hit the U.S. Federal Reserve's 2 percent target and unemployment is quite low — and at an all-time low for African-Americans and Hispanics. For the first time in memory, there are more job openings listed by U.S. companies than there are unemployed people.
Such conditions usually foreshadow rising real (inflation-adjusted) wages, which would indicate that American workers, many of whom were left behind in the anemic post-crisis recovery, might finally reap benefits from the strong economy.
Electoral models predict that a strong economy favors the party in power, and that a weak economy dooms it to crushing losses. And yet, with the economy in its best condition in over a decade, most polls show a substantial Democratic Party lead in the run-up to the 2018 midterm congressional elections this November. Moreover, most political pundits predict that the Democrats will take back control of the House of Representatives.