My recollection of 2007 is basically this:
The economy was pretty strong. Most people had jobs. Even your lazy brother-in-law had a job.
THE MEDIA SAID: Worst economy since Hoover!!!!
Result: Voters were frightened by the awful economy and gave Pelosi control of the senate.
My recollection from 2012:
The economy was damn weak. Your brother-in-law was out of work. Your neighbor too. Even you might have been out of work.
THE MEDIA SAID: Great economy! Major recovery! Gotta love that Obama!
Result: Voters who couldn't pay their bills were glad to hear of the economic boom and voted Obama a second term.
My recollection from 2016:
The economy was damn weak. America was weak around the world. Democrats were engaging in multiple felonies.
THE MEDIA SAID: Trump is a crazy man. Jeb is a statesman. Hillary is as pure as the driven snow.
Result: Voters said -- "hey the media lies a lot" and voted for Trump.
In my area (northeastern NJ/NYC metro area) 2007/08 was bad; very real job losses as NYC basically lost many of its financial sector jobs (and that impact rippled through local economies with foreclosures and such). Couple that with a horrible candidate like McCain and Obama was a shoe-in (anyone would have been).
2012 was a frightening indication of the enemedia’s strength, as the proven failure Otoken was re-elected. Again, in my area things never recovered (and still haven’t).
2016 showed (as you point out) that Trump learned how to beat the same media that dragged Otoken to a second term; it was impossible to hide the economic stagnation, and nobody believed there was anything the Dems would do to fix things. They were too busy pretending everything was fine...