Can Trump turn the economy around before the midterms?

With midterms approaching, economists say it may be too late for Trump to shift how voters feel about the economy. Economist Scott Lincicome says the White House has limited options. “Other than eliminating a lot of the tariffs, which we know isn't going to happen,” he argues, the administration would need to focus on affordability—things like housing deregulation or tax changes aimed at boosting investment. But even that may not move the needle in time. “The reality is a lot of people's views on the economy are set.”

For Nobel Prize–winning economist Paul Krugman, the political calendar makes the challenge even tougher. “The ability, even if they were to make radical changes in policies to significantly improve people's lives in time for the midterms is really negligible,” he says. And most voters aren’t following the details anyway. As Krugman puts it, “Most people are not paying attention… people have lives to live. They're not all nerds like us.”