Politicians might think they determine the issues of an election campaign, but more often than not it's economic management voters really care about.
Bill Clinton made that point famously during his successful 1992 US presidential election campaign when he said: "It's the economy, stupid."
But is that always the case?
The current set of economic figures heading into a July 2 election provides Malcolm Turnbull with reasonably upbeat growth, but price pressures have sunk into deflation, prompting the recent cut in interest rates.
An unemployment rate of 5.7 per cent is not that bad in the scheme of things.
Back in 2001, John Howard managed to retain power despite a growth rate of just 1.4 per cent and a jobless rate of 7.2 per cent, while inflation was only just stabilising after spiking above six per cent as a result of the GST.
And as for the official cash rate, that stood at what would be considered an eye-watering 6.25 per cent given it is now at a record low of 1.75 per cent.
Yet come 2007, Howard lost to Kevin Rudd despite the economy pounding along at a rate above four per cent and the jobless rate a mere 4.3 per cent.
The coalition wasn't helped by an unprecedented rate hike during the election campaign, although it wasn't seen as the be-all and end-all of why Howard lost.
Howard and his treasurer Peter Costello used their last budget for another round of tax cuts, while handing the incoming Labor government a $20 billion surplus.
When Paul Keating lost power in 1996, the budget deficit was more than $10 billion.
The 2008-2009 global financial crisis turned the Costello surplus into a $47.5 billion deficit at the time of the 2010 election as Labor treasurer Wayne Swan fought off the world's worst recession since the Great Depression.
Despite keeping the jobless rate below six per cent, when other economies were reporting double digit figures, Labor only just scraped back into power and then as a minority government.
Come the 2013 election, the deficit was still forecast at $30 billion, but the victorious Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey quickly ramped that up to closer to $50 billion.
The new prime minister and treasurer restored almost $9 billion to the reserves of the central bank - insisting they had been drained by Labor - while making adjustments to what they believed were more realistic economic forecasts.
However, for all the cries of "budget emergency" when the coalition came to power, the present treasurer Scott Morrison was still forecasting a $39.9 billion deficit for this financial year and government debt of $427 billion in the May budget.
Debt was $110 billion when Keating left office.
Opinion polls suggest Morrison has the edge over shadow treasurer Chris Bowen as most trusted to handle the economy.
At the end of the day, economic management is probably seen through the lens of the hip pocket on polling day rather than in the depths of the budget papers.
