GDP: The country’s economic output grew strongly under both Biden and Trump. Real gross domestic product, which tracks the inflation-adjusted value of all goods and services produced by the United States, grew at an annualized rate of 2.7% in Trump’s first three years and 3.5% in Biden’s. The Trump economy’s 1.4% annualized growth rate over his entire term is weaker, although it includes the Covid-19 shock of 2020, while Biden-led growth is concentrated at 5.9% in 2021, slowing to 1.9% and 2.5% in 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Stock exchange: Stock prices have performed better under Trump, although both presidencies have seen above-average gains—the S&P 500 index has posted an annualized return of 12.5% ​​since Biden took office in 2021, compared to 16.3% under Trump (and Biden has certainly not produced the stock market crash his opponent predicted in the 2020 race for the post).

Inflation: Inflation has been far worse during the Biden administration, rising 19 percent in Biden’s first 42 months in office, compared to just 6 percent in Trump’s first 42 months, according to the government’s consumer price index. Year-over-year inflation reached its highest in four decades at 9 percent under Biden in 2022, before falling to just over 3 percent — Biden attributed this to the ongoing impact of Covid-19 and the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Job market: Both Biden and Trump have strong labor markets. Since Biden took office, total employment has increased 11%, average wages have increased 17%, and unemployment has fallen from 6.7% to 4.3%. In particular, one sign of strength is that job growth and unemployment below 4% have coincided with interest rate hikes and easing inflation that typically hurt the labor market. Perhaps Trump’s most impressive labor market performance was reducing unemployment from 4.7% to as low as 3.5% in late 2019 and early 2020, which was the lowest since 1969, and wage growth of 15%, which outpaced inflation, during his four years in office.

The COVID Jobs asterisk: Much of Biden’s labor market gains are part of the post-pandemic recovery, as unemployment was just 3.5% in February 2020 and the number of Americans in employment has only increased by 4%. Biden has largely focused on data points distorted by Covid, and Trump’s labor market performance is strictly by-date, as the disruption from Covid-19 wiped out much of the nominal progress, briefly pushing unemployment to an all-time high of 14.9% in April 2020 and actually shrinking the total labor force from December 2016 to December 2020.

Consumer health: Consumer sentiment last month was at its lowest level under Trump, according to a broad University of Michigan poll, as Americans continue to feel the after-effects of inflation despite strong economic growth numbers and record stock markets. The personal savings rate in April, which measures the percentage of Americans’ income left over after spending and taxes, was 3.6 percent, less than half the level in April 2019 (7.7 percent).

Gas prices: The average price of a gallon of gasoline fell from $2.37 to $2.28 between December 2016 and 2020, rising to $3.41 by last week, according to the Energy Information Administration. However, gasoline prices rose to an all-time high of over $5 a gallon in 2022, shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices soaring around the world as the U.S. and its allies vowed not to buy oil from Russia, the world’s third-largest oil producer.

National debt: The federal government’s national debt is $35.2 trillion, more than 25 percent higher than it was on the day Biden took office. During Trump’s presidency, it had already risen by 39 percent, up from $19.95 trillion in January 2017. The U.S. has a total deficit of $5.85 trillion in the 2021-2023 fiscal years, compared to $2.43 trillion in 2017-2019 and a record $3.13 trillion in 2020 alone.