The high-level message within the GOP’s recent economic analysis is pretty simple, pretty straightforward: Republican-led states are bringing back the jobs. And Democrat states? Not so much.

If the above paragraph sounds vaguely familiar to you, it might be because it’s a word-for-word transcription of what we wrote back on June 29. Much has changed since then — inflation has gotten worse, recent monthly jobs reports have been miserable, the supply chain is a mess, Joe Biden’s polling numbers have fallen off the table — and yet one thing has remained remarkably consistent: Republican-led states are hard at work and leading the nation’s economic recovery, while Democrat-led states are sitting on the couch, slamming Natty Lights, swearing at the dog, and watching Springer reruns.

There’s even a Biden Bucks website from which Scranton Joe’s Springer Brigades can thank their president for paying them not to work. Is this a great country or what?

Back in June, red states held the top 13 slots in terms of jobs recovered. Today, they have the top 14 and 17 of the top 20.

Two of those states — Idaho and Utah — have more jobs today than when the China Virus hit, while two Democrat-run states — Louisiana and Hawaii — have failed to recover even half of the jobs they lost during the pandemic.

Perhaps most remarkable, though, is the case of red-and-getting-redder Florida, which is the nation’s third-most populous state and has the nation’s largest percentage of folks 65-plus. As our Mark Alexander writes: “Despite all the politically motivated media obsession with rising COVID cases in Florida in August, an excuse to criticize Gov. Ron DeSantis, his critics have now disappeared. No doubt due to increased rates of herd immunity, new cases have been declining for eight weeks, and are now at the lowest level since June. Currently, there are only two states with lower per capita infection rates than Florida.”

Think about that: Florida, our eighth-most densely populated state, is 48th in terms of COVID-19 infection rates. Credit Ron DeSantis for doing his homework and heeding the actual sciences of herd immunity and natural immunity, as opposed to the state-sponsored sciences of masking and mandatory vaccination.

When it comes to “the economy, stupid,” elections do indeed have consequences. And as the researchers at GOP.com point out, those consequences will soon be borne out in two gubernatorial elections in reliably blue states: New Jersey and Virginia. These two states rank 39th and 41st, respectively, in terms of economic recovery. In addition, under outgoing Democrat Governor Ralph Northam, Virginia ranks 49th for the best state to start a business, and New Jersey ranks 47th.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be that way. Choose wisely on November 2, folks.