General Discussion

Democrats: Really? The economy is better than it has ever been. You're imagining things.
Republicans: I know! The price of eggs, rent, etc. are through the roof. It's never been this bad. We're gonna fix it.

Now which of the two do you think low-information voters are going to gravitate to?

Democrats are right, on a macro scale about the economy, but that's not what the low income/low information voters care about. They care about how far their paycheck goes - and telling them not to believe their lying eyes was not a winning strategy.

Republicans were flat out lying about being able to fix things - but they did so after first acknowledging and responding empathetically to the pain they were hearing.

As for the current nonsense - Republicans are no longer in election mode. They have largely dropped their pretense of being able to fix the paycheck issue.