For the sizable number of commentators who want to believe that the US public’s dissatisfaction with the economy — and, therefore, Joe Biden’s presidency — is simply a result of partisanship and media misinformation rather than being based in something real and tangible, last month proved a godsend. January’s edition of the University of Michigan’s nearly five-decade-long Surveys of Consumers showed a noted uptick in consumer confidence, reaching its highest point since July 2021 and seeing one of its largest gains on record.

The results were immediately seized upon as grist for yet another round of media coverage charging that the current economy is working well for everyone, and that the voting public’s unhappiness with this administration is simply irrational and doesn’t reflect reality.

As Paul Krugman, arguably the leading purveyor of this line of thinking, recently put it, “Americans finally seem to be noticing the good news.”