ALLENTOWN, Pa.—Are you better off than you were four years ago? Ronald Reagan's famous question to voters in his 1980 campaign now looms over the 2012 presidential election.

Barack Obama took office in January 2009—as credit markets stalled, stocks plunged and unemployment shot higher. Nearly four years later, many Americans have escaped the worst effects of the crisis. But they have made little progress beyond that, according to several measures of the U.S. economy.

The November vote is likely to turn on whether more Americans credit President Obama for averting financial catastrophe—a main assertion of his campaign—or blame him for a disappointingly weak recovery, the central message of Republican rival Mitt Romney.

Working-class Allentown and the surrounding area in the rolling hills of northeastern Pennsylvania reflect in many ways the overall U.S. economic experience and mood. Residents here have bounced back from some setbacks but are working harder to stay afloat.

Jim Kelchner, 63 years old, lost his job when the housing bust triggered the closing of the lumber yard he managed. He collected unemployment insurance in 2009 for a few months. In 2010, he landed two part-time jobs: one as a maintenance man at a Lowe's store, the other working in the warehouse of Coca-Cola Park, home to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, a triple-A minor league baseball team.