The Fed announced its latest stimulus campaign in September. The central bank said that it would purchase mortgage securities at a rate of $40 billion a month until it concluded that the outlook for the labor market had improved “substantially.” It also said it intended to keep short-term interest rates near zero at least until mid-2015, extending its previous forecast from late 2014.

The intervening weeks have seen glimmers of improvement in the unemployment rate and the housing market, but Fed officials have barely mentioned those data in recent speeches, focusing instead on explaining the new policy. As a result, analysts expect no changes when the Fed’s policy-making arm, the Federal Open Market Committee, convenes here beginning Tuesday.

A more consequential meeting looms in early December, when the Fed must decide whether to keep buying long-term Treasury securities. An ongoing program of purchases, Operation Twist, is scheduled to run through the end of the year.

The combination of $45 billion a month in Treasuries and $40 billion a month in mortgage securities puts the Fed’s current efforts on a scale comparable to its earlier rounds of asset purchases. A decision to stop buying Treasuries, by contrast, would amount to a significant slowing in the pace of its stimulus campaign.

There is little reason to think the outcome of the presidential election will affect that December decision, even if Mr. Romney is victorious. Mr. Bernanke will still be in charge, and the Fed is protective of its independence.