it's the economy, stupid

cliché The one thing voters care most about is the health of the country's economy. The phrase was coined by political strategist James Carville for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 1992. For all the scandals and controversies surrounding the governor, the thing most likely to unseat her in the upcoming election will be the lingering effects of the recession. After all, it's the economy, stupid.

Failing to address economic problems. The phrase was invented by Bill Clinton’s strategist, James Carville, during Clinton’s 1992 campaign for the presidency. Carville suggested Clinton was a better choice for president than George H. W. Bush because Bush had failed to do anything about a recent recession. It hung as a sign on Clinton’s campaign headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas. The New York Times writer and Nobel Prize–winning economist Paul Krugman used it: “What political scientists . . . tell us is that it really is the economy, stupid” (July 18, 2010). The term not only was repeated enough to become a cliché but gave rise to similar locutions for blame, such as “it’s the voters, stupid” or “it’s the oil spill, stupid.”