by Patrick Appel
Nate Silver studies how jobs reports impact presidential approval ratings. His conclusion:
[I]t seems that some of the benefit an incumbent derives from strong economic headlines is from the headlines themselves. Speaking of which, there is one set of headlines that could be especially important to Mr. Obama. On Friday, Nov. 2, the government will release a jobs report — just four days in advance of the Nov. 6 election.
That will represent the first time since 2000 that a jobs report immediately preceded a presidential election. If the election is too close to call at that point, the report could very easily make the difference.
The Dish 