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This doesn't really address the original arguments in the post. If this is the explanation, then why are ratings of 'am I personally doing well economically' high? The puzzling thing is the discrepancy, this explanation does not address.
I don't think it's puzzling, I think people think they're being lied to when American Pravda insists that the economy is doing great. They look at pricing of the goods that they have the most exposure to (food, energy, housing), they look at debt, they look at Covid policies, and they conclude that it's actually not great. If you ask them how they're doing, they say that they're basically fine at the moment, but they're nervous about the signals they see. The response amounts to, "I'm fine at the moment, but the whole thing seems pretty shaky".
This is a ridiculous extrapolation to make beyond data which cannot be stretched that far. And the question's word was not 'fine' it was 'good'!
Well good thing we don't need to operate on these general anecdotes and vibes, we can in fact look at statistics.
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