Hmm. I just read a fairly compelling argument about why the flagging economy isn't hurting Obama in the polls. The gist of it is that the majority of Republican voters think that the economy is in terrible shape, while only a very small minority of Democrats agree that we're in fiscal trouble.

The difference stems from the increasingly partisan media. In general, right-wing voters are following news media outlets that say we're in an economic crisis, while left-wingers see news stories that either downplay the recession/depression or devote much more of their focus toward other topics.


Here's my favorite paragraph of the article:

“The influence of identification on attitudes toward the perceived elements of politics has been far more important than the influence of these attitudes on party identification itself,” the authors wrote. That is: Party identification appeared, at times, to trump voters' experience of reality.
In short, the economy is developing into a non-issue for the two campaigns. Which begs the question... if the economy isn't a key issue in this election, what is?