Inflation, partisanship and the pandemic have made them glummer than the numbers suggest they should feel

I think the author just looked up statistics to reach a conclusion convenient to them.

Just ask the actual people. (Why didn’t they do interviews?) There are so many details lost in their cherrypicked numbers. Prices, wages, housings, they are very bad according to what I read online, contrary to what the author argues citing average growths. Maybe they have no grasp of reality anymore?