President Joe Biden had some good economic news last week. The American economy added 353,000 new jobs, nearly twice what many people predicted. Previous months’ job gains were also revised upward, and for a change, it wasn’t government jobs that were leading the advances. Wages grew faster than expected. Consumer spending was strong.

Simply put, they were really, really good economic numbers.

Biden also had some horrible political news last week. A new poll had his overall approval rating at 37 percent, the lowest of his term. He trailed former President Donald Trump by 20 points on who was best able to handle the economy; the gap was more than 30 points on the issue of controlling the border. Trump even leads Biden by 16 points on who is more “competent and effective.”

Simply put, they were really, really horrid numbers.

Those two things — the economy and Biden’s standing with voters — were supposed to move together, according to many political commentators. If the economy started doing better, the theory went, so would the president’s political standing. That they most certainly have not — at least not yet — suggests that one of three things is happening.

Two may be manageable for Biden in his re-election efforts. The third, however, would be fatal.

The first possibility is that people........

© The Hill