june 1980, a time when inflation was 14% and real wages were declining 6% a year. the "times's" nate cohen makes a persuasive case that the timing of biden's falling numbers suggest delta and afghanistan. both happened in august 2021 which is when biden's numbers took a sharp dip and never fully recovered. consistent's larger point is that these twin problems made the biden administration stop looking competent. life was getty messy and the president who promised normalcy, koch of competence and a science based collusion to covid was not delivering. all of this makes sense but i wonder if there is a larger issue at play. people are not responding rationally to objective data. right now we are living in an intensely polarized partisan times. questions about consumer confidence or about the country being on the right or wrong