Radio Recap – Breaking: Record Setting GDP Announced in Final Days of Election

This morning, recording breaking Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers were announced with only days to go in this election. Millions of people have already voted.

On today’s Jay Sekulow Live, we discussed record breaking GDP numbers being released as we head into the final days of the election. We’re also joined by ACLJ Senior Advisor for National Security and Foreign Policy Ric Grenell.

It’s no surprise to me as we were on the air today that both the Trump and Biden campaigns were in Florida. They were campaigning in very different ways. President Trump was hosting a very large outdoor rally in Tampa and Vice President Biden was doing a drive up rally. Polls show Florida and many other states within the margin of error.

I think what is important to look at this latest economic news. It is probably not going to get enough attention from the media. U.S. economic growth has set a record, with GDP growing 33.1% for the third quarter. This is where the businesses started reopening after the lockdowns. The previous record, which was just after World War 2, was a 16.7% increase in 1950. This increase of 33.1% is the largest ever for GDP growth. How does this impact the election? The bottom line is that voters waiting to cast their votes that aren’t very partisan, oftentimes their vote is about their pocketbook.

ACLJ Director of Government Affairs Thann Bennett gave his thoughts on how the economic numbers are felt by the American people:

These are really great numbers. These are great numbers for Americans of all political stripes, to be honest with you. That makes up for about two-thirds of the economic hit that we took due to the coronavirus, already coming back – a monumental achievement. One other sort of secondary number in here that I think is important for people to pay attention to is that real consumer spending rose by almost nine percent. This means that people realize that there’s a little bit of extra money inside their budget, a little bit of extra money inside their checkbook, even though some of that stimulus package did not happen because Speaker Pelosi blocked it. Their spending has increased by nine percent. That’s a big number. The story might get lost a little bit, but that consumer spending number tells me is that the American people realize this. They have already started to feel the recovery, the revival come back and therefore their spending increases. While the story itself might be lost, I think voters recognize . . . the impact of this recovery.

The full broadcast is complete with much more discussion of the latest economic numbers, yesterday’s social media hearing before the U.S. Senate, and the state of the election. We were also joined by ACLJ Senior Advisor for National Security and Foreign Policy Ric Grenell.

Watch the full broadcast below.