Can a president win reelection with historically high unemployment?

Published May 1, 2020 2:36am ET



President Trump faces the unenviable task of trying to win reelection with unemployment rates unseen since the Great Depression, but there is precedent for incumbents surviving increased joblessness.

A jobs report released Thursday showed another 3.8 million people in the United States filing for unemployment, totaling roughly 30 million in the six weeks since states began the coronavirus lockdowns. Those numbers constitute the worst job losses in history, with the unemployment rate now hovering around 20%.

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