Nine Economic Facts That May Determine Tuesday's Election

Democrats and Republicans alike agree that jobs and the economy are the dominant issues that will drive Tuesday’s presidential outcome. 

Here, then, is a look at nine economic facts facing Americans as they head to the polls:

1. Every fifth man in America is out of a job. Black male unemployment is now at the highest rate it has ever been since the U.S. government began collecting statistics on the subject in 1972. Just 56.9 percent of black men over the age of 20 are now working.  

2. Every seventh person you pass on the sidewalk now relies on food stamps, a figure that represents 46.7 million Americans.

3. On the last day of President George W. Bush’s presidency, gas prices were $1.84 a gallon. Today under President Barack Obama, the average price of a gallon of gas costs $3.56.  

4. In 2006 and 2007, 90% of all college graduates found a job. Under Obama, just 56% of college graduates are able to find a job.

5. More than one in four U.S. homeowners are “under water” or owe more than their homes are worth.   The housing crisis has destroyed $7 trillion in U.S. household wealth. Another 9.5 million homes are still at risk of default.

6. President Obama has increased the national debt more in three years than George W. Bush did in eight. Under Bush, the debt rose $4.899 trillion in eight years. In three years, the debt has increased by $4.939 trillion under Obama.

7. 27 percent of black Americans now live in poverty, a two percent increase since 2009.

8. According to the recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report, the unemployment rate for black Americans now stands at a staggering 14.3 percent, a figure well above the already high national unemployment rate of 7.9 percent.

9.  A record 88,921,000 Americans are no longer in the labor force.

On Tuesday, Mr. Obama will face voters with the highest unemployment rate of any incumbent since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.