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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDemocrats' problem is not focusing on issues most vital to independents, 2 prominent pollsters say
Washington PostHistory doesnt really often repeat itself, but it often rhymes, said Benenson, who served as Barack Obamas pollster in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections.
Benenson has teamed up with Neil Newhouse, a co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies, a GOP polling firm, on a research project warning that Democrats are heading into next years midterm elections amid echoes of Obamas first two years in office that resulted in a resounding defeat in the 2010 midterms that cost the party its House majority.
So much political capital was spent on a nearly year-long effort to pass the Affordable Care Act that few voters rewarded Democrats when it finally became law in the spring of 2010, and, 12 years later, Bidens Build Back Better agenda has turned into another messy process fight.
At the heart of the Benenson-Newhouse research is something Democrats worried about a dozen years ago, when those messy negotiations took up so much bandwidth yet were also out of sync with what many swing voters prioritized. In late 2009 and early 2010, with unemployment hovering around 10 percent, key swing voters cared most about jobs and not expanding access to health insurance. Todays voters appear to be most concerned about the ongoing global pandemic and are not deeply invested in the haggling over proposals such as expanding Medicare coverage to include dental, hearing and vision benefits.
Budi
(15,325 posts)Democrats real problem is all the media heads from armchair to big media personalities making a living off of telling Democrats what their "doom-of-the-day" problem is.
Democrat's problem is Media profiting from their normalizing of fascism.
Scrivener7
(50,934 posts)Yes, there are many news organizations that are just conservative and will never report to the Democrat's advantage.
But there are more news organizations that are just lazy and will report whatever is the loudest and squeakiest thing in the zeitgeist.
That is how TFG got all his press. He was the loudest, he was the weirdest, he was the one who made us most incredulous and made the media world blow up.
I am not saying we should be anything like him, but the Democrat's real problem is that they are always trailing the news cycle, always reacting, never getting out in front of it.
I don't know how to do that, but there are people out there who do. There are companies that do that. There are PR firms who have revolutionized the way we think by getting out in front of issues, and then by seeding social media so the active message gets into our cultural DNA.
It is way past time we did this. The need for it isn't complicated. I am sure the execution of it takes a lot of work and know how, but those people are out there. They can be hired.
Let's wag some dog, for God's sake.
is the truth - deliver to your base
madville
(7,408 posts)Among independents next year when the midterms happen. Theres no way around it, if the prices of groceries, utilities and gas continue to climb were gonna be in a tough spot and nothing else will really matter come next November.
Even if they pass some smaller version of BBB and the infrastructure bill by the end of this year, it will be old news a year from now.
Klaralven
(7,510 posts)The few parts of BBB that can be implemented quickly will be characterized by the Republicans as a giveaway.
madville
(7,408 posts)The infrastructure bill is touted as bipartisan so theres no political gain either way tied to it regardless of how or when it passes.
Last poll I saw showed less than 20% even knew any specifics about what is proposed in the BBB bill, if independent voters cant tie a specific improvement in their quality of life to it then thats not gonna be much of a boost either.
What I can see happening with the media we have in this country is them blaming continued high inflation on the passing of these bills, whether its deemed temporary or permanent. People do tie that together and seek someone to blame when they are spending more money and getting less in return.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)to be exciting than seeing ground bulldozed for a new bridge. People right now need hope a lot more than bridges, and that can come long before completion.
People arent even shy about this.
Inflation will be a huge talking point by midterms. Cost of everything is up.
katmondoo
(6,454 posts)Their legistration was always to make life miserable.
drexelkathy
(118 posts)If prices continue to climb for everything from a gallon of milk to ground beef and at the pump/what it costs to heat or cool a home
It wont matter.
madville
(7,408 posts)And their top two issues in polling are the economy and COVID right now. As a voting bloc they will place the blame for anything perceived as negative on the majority party in charge and vote against them, regardless of which party it is.
They arent ever really happy either, thats the main reason Presidents have lost Congress in the midterms for the last 30 years (Clinton, Bush, Obama, and the rump).
Its like usual, its not IF republicans get back in power its just a matter of when.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)as well as those who will? Probably almost half of so-called independents wouldn't vote Democratic if Jesus appeared and told them to. They know Republican Jesus would never do that.