> One thing that stood out to me lately is that their readers evidently think Europe did much better, from the comments section - and it's obvious why...

People who post in comments sections are a tiny unrepresentative subset of readers.

In my experience, the NYT comment section is mostly filled with garbage by partisans who cannot tolerate or process anything except that which fits their chosen perspective. For proof, just read comments attached to opinion articles by their token non-liberals. I don't think anything of value can be inferred from such a self-selected dysfunctional group.