To the editor,

As reported in the Pioneer Press, according to a Harris Poll 49 percent of Americans believe that the stock market is down for the year when in actuality the DOW, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq have all been reaching record highs all year long.

Another 56 percent of Americans believe we're in a recession even though our GDP has been rising for the last three years and is at an all-time high, and we have outperformed all the other advanced industrial economies. When it comes to unemployment, 49 percent of Americans believe it is at a 50-year high when it actually is at a 50-year low. 

Inflation is a worldwide phenomenon, but our rate of inflation is the lowest in all of the industrialized nations. 

There is a complete disconnect in people's minds about the reality of the America we live in. Americans have never had it so good.

So how do you explain the disconnect?  The pandemic, inflation, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have dominated the news, which seems to report mostly dramatic and visual events rather than everyday facts. Biden's four years have been a quiet success in contrast to all the misleading rhetoric that dominates the media. Joe is a decent person who should be reelected with a Democratic majority in the House and the Senate.  

Louis Drecktrah

River Falls