Because people aren't seeing those successes for themselves.

Part of why people tend to think that the economy is better under Republicans is because Republicans are better at making things better for people that vote by doing things that might lower prices, cut payroll taxes, and make things more affordable. The problem is the way those things are done are almost never sustainable long term and tend to result in worse knock-on effects later.

Republicans prioritize short-term economic boosts which play to an electoral cycle. Democrats play a longer game but they're really bad at messaging and really bad at setting things up so people have something tangible to hang their hat on. Pursuing longer term goals and short term ones at the same time is difficult but not impossible.

It's tempting to just say "oh voters are just stupid and don't understand" and, frankly, that's what a lot of Democrats tend to do.

But that ignores a lot of people's lived reality. Something that will curb inflation by 10% in the next ten years is great but someone who suddenly sees an extra $100 come out of their paycheck for payroll taxes is going to be a lot more worried about that $100 because that directly and immediately impacts their life.

Democrat messaging also tends to really suck in this area.

It gets into one of my favorite evergreen topics that I rant about at length - surrogation.

So there are statistical indicators of economic health that the US uses to say "good economy" or "bad economy." Over time, systems have grown up to supply those metrics with data to be able to jink the measurements.

An example most people are familiar with is the removal of a large number of people from the statistics on unemployment - if you're unemployed and not seeking a job for more than 4 weeks you don't statistically count as "unemployed."

What this leads to is a lot of splashy headlines about good economic health but in reality it's the same problem that we have in schools that rely heavily on standardized testing - there's a proclivity to "teach to the test" and have kids do well on the test but poorly elsewhere.

Economically, the Democrats will tout these good economic indicators as proof that things are good right now but the reality is we're facing a huge spike in homelessness, rent is sky high for most people, and cost of living is through the roof. When people point that out, they get shut down by Democrats as "too negative." I realize "gaslighting" gets used a lot out of context but...that is a lot of what happens with the Democrats.