A statistical analysis of Trump’s four years in office

WASHINGTON – The Dow Jones Average has increased by more than 10,000 points since outgoing President Donald Trump took office four years ago.

But consumer confidence – largely due to the coronavirus pandemic – has plummeted, while the national unemployment rate has increased by 2 percentage points from January 2017.

Economic growth has been exponentially greater since the last quarter. (But also because it was catastrophically smaller in the previous quarter due to the coronavirus.)

And the federal budget deficit is more than five times greater than when Trump took office, while public debt grew by nearly $ 8 trillion.

These figures tell only part of the story of the Trump presidency, not capturing tweets, controversies, Supreme Court nominations and impeachment – in the plural – during his four years in the Oval Office.

But they do help to frame the general economic and financial environment that existed before Trump became president and what exists when he leaves office on January 20.

The changes from 2017 to 2021 are also largely the reverse of the situation before and after Barack Obama’s eight years in office – when the unemployment rate decreased, the budget deficit became smaller and consumer confidence grew.

But Trump and Obama have this in common: their party’s representation in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate has declined after their tenure.

And both have left a smaller footprint for American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq since the beginning of their presidencies.

Below is a statistical analysis of the Trump presidency. The number “then” is the best number available for when Trump first took office in 2017. And “now” is the most recent number.

Unemployment rate

So: 4.7% (January 2017)

Now: 6.7% (December 2020)

Dow Jones Industrial Average

So: 19,827 (closing January 20, 2017)

Now: 30,814 (closing January 15, 2021)

Gross Domestic Product

So: 2.3% (1st quarter of 2017)

Now: 33.4% (3rd quarter of 2020)

The story continues

Consumer confidence

So: 111.6 (Conference Board data for January 2017)

Now: 88.6 (Conference Board data for December 2020)

Average family income (adjusted for inflation)

So: $ 62,898 (2016 Census data)

Now: $ 68,703 (2019 census data)

Americans living below the poverty level

So: 40.6 million (2016 census data)

Now: 34.0 million (2019 census data)

Federal budget deficit

So: $ 584 billion (FY 2016)

Now: $ 3.3 trillion (fiscal year 2020)

Federal Public Debt

So: $ 19.9 trillion (January 2017)

Now: $ 27.7 trillion (December 2020)

Americans without health insurance

So: 28.1 million (2016)

Now: 26.1 million (2019)

Number of Republicans in the US House of Representatives

So: 241

Now: 211

Number of Republicans in the U.S. Senate

So: 52

Now: 50 (after swearing by Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock)

Number of American troops in Iraq

So: about 5,200 (January 2017)

Now: about 2,500 (January 2021)

Number of American troops in Afghanistan

So: about 12,000 (January 2017)

Now: about 2,500 (January 2021)