Is the presidential winner going to end up the loser

Carter wasn’t effective at solving things - not quickly enough, anyway, and the situation got a lot worse under him. The change in attitude under Reagan is a better example. Plus, in 1992 it was common knowledge that deficits would never go away. Under new leadership, they did.

It is amazing how insoluble problems become soluble once the ideological blinders get taken off. The economy didn’t get much better under FDR, but people started feeling like the government cared, and that made all the difference.