The thing is that "the economy sucks" isn't a sincere right-wing complaint. They don't know or care if the economy is bad. They use it as a rationalization for their true desires, cutting taxes or abusing immigrants. That's why you can't argue "actually inflation isn't bad." They just don't care.
Lots of people are dumb and proud of their lack of party ID. (Not just centrists either, it includes MAGA cheerleaders.) They definitely care when the economy is bad. Even if they don’t care themselves, it’s a thing that puts them on the defensive and makes them sheepish about talking in public.
People know when they personally can't get a job or afford rent. Almost nobody knows if the overall economy is bad, even economists aren't sure. People's perception of "the economy" is 1% based on what they earn and pay, and 99% based on whatever they saw on Fox or Facebook 5 minutes ago.
You're not trying to convince right wingers. You're trying to convinced the type of squishy swing voters who swung to Trump to magically make it 2019 at the grocery store again.
Hard disagree. it isn't that they don't care, it's that they use it as the on ramp to those other things. Everything is too expensive and you don't get paid enough because ______. People relate and respond to the first part and lead people 'immigrants taking jobs', 'shoplifting at stores', etc
Dems mistake was failing to even recognize the first part. Instead they were saying inflation was beaten and that numbers were good while people still struggled to make ends meet.
Inflation was pretty much beaten. There's never been a time when people weren't "struggling to make ends meet". Little if anything has changed on the inflation front since Trump got elected, but nobody talks about it anymore. Why? Because it was never about inflation, never for a minute.