I've been thinking more about the president's still-pretty-strong poll numbers on the economy, and they make even more sense to me than they did already just from the usual observation that the economy was good pre-COVID and voters think he's a business guy.

I suggest you think about it this way: Are there aspects of the president's economic performance you approve of? I can make a pretty long list of economic choices Trump has made that I approve of -- big ones, not just little ones.

What has Trump done right? He made good appointments to the Fed, including Jay Powell. (He then started making bad choices but Congress blocked those.) He also has been right about monetary policy, pushing for lower rates at a time when lower rates were appropriate.

Trump pushed Republicans in Congress to agree to a really large COVID relief package, that was both a huge fiscal stimulus and had extensive relief for unemployed Americans. Of course, this was a bipartisan deal -- don't we give presidents credit for making good bipartisan deals?

More broadly, Trump has correctly rejected deficit hawk concerns. I don't think he has always used budget deficits wisely (the TCJA has some positive structural elements but overall it's way too friendly to the rich) but he correctly didn't insist on an austerity agenda.

Again, this is an area where Trump has benefit from being constrained by Congress -- in this case, because Congress would not send him the entitlement cuts he wanted in the form of ACA repeal. His enacted agenda looks better than his desired agenda. But again, what's a record?

I'm not saying you should approve of Trump's handling of the economy. I don't, on balance. But if you can identify some important economy moves you approve of, even if you think he sucks overall, then that helps make sense of him having especially good poll numbers on the issue.