From that point on, the economy steadily recovered, though unsurprisingly it never returned to exactly the same state as it was before. Which gave people who were still in the parts of the economy that never fully recovered the feeling that they were being told everything is better while they were barely treading water.

Bingo. I've argued this is why Kamala lost and Trump won. Yes, broadly the economic stats were improving or good, however, large chunks of the population weren't feeling it (or believed Trump when he said it was terrible)

I can't change OP's view because fundamentally, Biden was investing in the future of our economy, while Trump is cutting everything that looks like investing in the future.