What is the role of economy in the 2008 presidential election?

Before Barack Obama was elected as the 44th president of the United States, the race for the White House appeared to be very different than any other elections. A huge economic crisis resulting from the collapses of large financial institutions struck the country more than anyone could have ever predicted. Such a critical situation had never been reached before. In order to deal with the new orientation of the political campaign, the two candidates for the presidential election Barack Obama and John McCain had to face a massive and catastrophic economic situation: “In August 2008, the unemployment rate was 6.1%—the highest level since September 2003, (…). Credit card defaults rose to 5.5% of all credit card debt by the second quarter of 2008, an increase of 14.7% from the first quarter of 2001. (…) In the second quarter of 2008, the trade deficit was at 5.0% of gross domestic product for the third quarter in a row.” More aspects have led to the recession of the American economy and later the world economy. In such circumstances, it seems spurious and interesting to study the role of the economy in the 2008 presidential election. In such period of economical uncertainty, the financial system may have played an important part in the election of Barack Obama. Four authors analyzed the influence of the economy in the outcome of the 2008 presidential campaign. Each of them links the result of the campaign to a specific role of the economy. Three main results emerged from these findings. First, Obama approval has been profoundly influenced by a fading economy. Secondly, the closer we approach the election time the bigger the economy matters for the public opinion and the convergence of “economic pessimism” in the electoral is very high. Thirdly, the influence in the valence and position issues highly influenced the turnout of the election. Linn, Moody and Asper propose a first