President Biden is trying to showcase sunny economic indicators, but Americans aren't convinced, Axios Capital author Felix Salmon reports.

• Why it matters: Between now and midterms — a year from this week — Democrats need to get credit for America's economic strength, or risk massive losses in Congress.

State of play: Economic health is undeniable, both for the country and for households. The economy is expected to grow 5.7% this year.

• Almost 6 million jobs were created between January and October. The unemployment rate is just 4.6%. The quit rate, a barometer of workers' optimism, hit a record high 2.9% in August.
• Average earnings are up 3.5% this year to $31 per hour.
• Stocks hit a new record high every day last week — and yesterday, too — and are up more than 30% year-t0-date.

Reality check: 56% of voters think the country is on the wrong track, up from 39% in June, per the Harris Poll.

• The Gallup economic confidence index is now at -25, down from positive territory in June.

Between the lines: A White House official says some of the economic pessimism comes from supply-chain issues, which are contributing to the soaring price of cars and other goods.

• As the N.Y. Times' Neal Irwin wrote Sunday: "[A]fter decades in which the availability of jobs (or lack thereof) drove economic sentiment, inflation now appears to have become the more powerful force."

What we're watching: The most salient price for most consumers — gas — is up 62% over the past year, to $3.42 per gallon.

• The inflation rate, released tomorrow, is expected to come in at an eye-popping 5.8% year-on-year.

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Glenn Youngkin's win in Virginia drove a statewide wave of Google searches about critical race theory, Axios' Stef Kight and Jacque Schrag report.

• That's a finding from a first-of-its kind project we're unveiling today.
• Between now and next year's midterms, Axios and Google Trends will track search activity in key states and districts.

The maps above explore issues conservatives want to push.

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Most Americans — including two-thirds of Republicans — give their local schools high marks for juggling COVID risks, managing editor Margaret Talev writes from the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index.

• Other findings from our national survey suggest Americans largely feel the Delta danger is behind us. That's a potential path to redemption for President Biden after months of sinking approval.

Why it matters: Republicans are weaponizing dissatisfaction around schools to shape elections. But when it comes to COVID, our survey finds discontent is being driven by a vocal but small minority. Fewer than one in 10 parents said schools have done a "very poor job."

By the numbers: Asked how schools in their community had done in terms of balancing health and safety with other priorities since the start of the pandemic, 71% of U.S. adults — and 75% of parents — said schools had done a good job as opposed to a poor job.

• Local businesses got the highest share of "good" ratings on balancing those interests — 80%.

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A growing number of startups are trying to build a business around users who value privacy, often focusing on subscriptions rather than advertising, Axios' Ina Fried and Sara Fischer report.

ProtonMail, the encrypted email service, expects to have 75 million users by year's end, up from 50 million in June, CEO Andy Yen tells Axios.

• Yen attributes the increase to a rise in authoritarianism, threatening journalists and activists around the globe.
• He notes that users outside the U.S. are "picking up on privacy a lot faster. ... Privacy is more real to people in a lot of these places. ... The Western world was a little slow to get on top of it."

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has introduced a companion to a Senate bill that would let people use algorithm-free versions of tech platforms, Axios' Ashley Gold reports.

• Why it matters: Anger over how platforms use their algorithms to target users is a bipartisan issue with momentum on Capitol Hill.

The Filter Bubble Transparency Act would require internet platforms to let people use a version of their services where content selections are not driven by algorithms. It's sponsored by Reps. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), David Cicilline (D-R.I.), Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) and Burgess Owens (R-Utah).

• Buck and Cicilline are the bipartisan duo responsible for passing six antitrust bills out of the House Judiciary Committee in June.
• The Senate version has bipartisan sponsors, including Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.).

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Astronauts celebrate inside the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft after a parachute ride last night into the Gulf of Mexico off Pensacola, Fla., following a 200-day mission to the International Space Station.

The astronauts' view in the SpaceX Dragon capsule as they prepared yesterday to undock from the space station.

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New York Times Magazine editor in chief Jake Silverstein is out today with an essay previewing a book version — coming next week — of "The 1619 Project," the paper's 2019 inquest into slavery's stain on America:

"The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story’" represents a significant enlargement of the version of the project we produced two years ago. That version was not perfect, as few first efforts are, and the enormous amount of feedback we’ve received — both praise and criticism — has helped us deepen and improve it. ...

I am aware that no matter how diligent the work has been, the book will kick up a new round of debates. After all, years of careful consensus-building around the national history standards did nothing to forestall that eruption. But in a sense, these arguments themselves may represent the apotheosis of our historiography.

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• 📚 Also out next week: A kids' edition ... Go deeper: More about the books.

NBA champions visited the White House yesterday for the first time since 2016, ending the Trump-era break in a tradition going back to 1963.

• The Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo — 6 foot 11, born in Greece to Nigerian parents — said:

We have the best fans in the world. They supported us ... when we were the worst team in the NBA. And, eight years later, we're the best team in the NBA. ... [I]f you dedicate yourself ... and believe in your dreams, you can accomplish great things ... I've done that my whole life, and I'm in the White House. This is — this is awesome. [Laughter.]

Bucks owner Marc Lasry presented this jersey to the 46th president.