Kansas City Star’s David Goldstein features The Winston Group’s David Winston in his latest article on Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts, and what that means for Democrats and their policies.
“One of the problems that Democrats have had is they understood late that they’ve been on the wrong issue. This has been about jobs and unemployment. When you have three months of unemployment 10 percent or higher, the public is unhappy.”
To read the complete article, turn to theKansas City Starwebsite.
New York Times’ Jackie Calmes writes about President Obama’s current challenges in light of the employment report released January 8th. The article features commentary from The Winston Group’s own David Winston:
But David Winston, a political consultant who advises Congressional Republican leaders, said the unemployment rate was the most important indicator for voters assessing Mr. Obama’s performance.
“If this number doesn’t significantly improve, that’s going to be a negative for him and for his party,” Mr. Winston said.
Access the full article here: nytimes.com
Check out Chris Anderson’s article in Ars Technica about iPhone and Snow Leopard Server’s compatibility problems. We’re excited for Chris, as it’s his first published tech article!
With Apple pushing the iPhone as a full-featured smartphone for the enterprise, you’d think it would work perfectly with its own enterprise-focused Snow Leopard Server. You’d be wrong. The iPhone even functions better in an Exchange environment.
The Right Idea, Episode 36: Government 2.0 from The Winston Group on Vimeo.
TRI returns with Mark Drapeau and Meagan Carberry, this time chatting with Kristen about the government’s use of new media and how new media will allow citizen journalism to influence transparency in government.
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David Winston is a guest pollster for Pollster.com today, writing about recent surveys that show Obama’s numbers are slipping dangerously below 50%, something the administration may have to be concerned about soon:
If Obama’s numbers continue to slide, his policy agenda is at serious risk. Don’t think for one moment that members of the House and Senate don’t pay attention to these national polls. They do, especially those who find themselves in competitive races. Equally important, their own internal state or district polls will likely also have a presidential job approval question. Whether Obama is under 50% or under water back home could and, in many cases, will impact their voting behavior in D.C.
To read all of David’s article, turn to pollster.com
The LA Times recently posted an article on global warming, as recent polls show that numbers have decreased among voters believing that climate change is caused by people. The article featured insight from David on voters’ views of the issue:
“The majority of people view it as an economic issue,” said David Winston, who has polled for the House and Senate Republican leadership on the issue.
To access the entire article, turn to LATimes.com
The Right Idea, Episode 35: The Future of Communication from The Winston Group on Vimeo.
Kristen chats with Mark Drapeau and Maegan Carberry about where new media communication is headed and how to best utilize it.
Follow us on Twitter:
The Winston Group: @TheWinstonGroup
Kristen Soltis: @KLSoltis
Mark Drapeau: @cheeky_geeky
Maegan Carberry: @maegancarberry
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Richard W. Stevenson of the New York Times recently wrote on article on the renewal of populist conservatism, mostly due to Sarah Palin’s re-emergence on the political forefront. Stevenson briefly chronicles several instances of populism in political history, and features commentary from The Winston Group’s David Winston on how populism has played a role in elections:
David Winston, a pollster who advises the Republican leaders in Congress, said that when populism is married to a positive agenda that gives voters a concrete alternative to the status quo, it can alter the landscape, as it did when Republicans captured the House in 1994.
“The challenge is not tapping into a populist environment, it’s creating an alternative that brings about the next political shift,” he said.
To read more of Stevenson’s article, turn to nytimes.com
Byron York’s latest article features commentary from David Winston on the real top issue right now – jobs (not healthcare). Even with unemployment in the double digits, there an urgency missing in addressing the problem, even from both sides of the political spectrum.
“Any time you have unemployment this high, it is the number one story, whether it’s being written about or not,” says David Winston, a Republican pollster who for months has urged GOP officeholders to focus steadily on the issue.
To read more of the article, click on washingtonexaminer.com
In Byron York’s latest article for the Washington Examiner, a recent Gallup poll shows that Americans do not feel the urgency that President Obama is pressing for in reforming health care. York also gets insight from the WG’s David Winston and refers to a recent WG memo to Republican leaders stating that the real concern lies in fixing the economy, and not so much in health care.
For a recent report to House Republican leader Rep. John Boehner, Winston asked people to judge two different approaches to today’s woes. The choice was between “Republicans who say Congress should be focusing on long-term policies that create jobs, like small business and family tax relief, and controlling federal spending to get our economy moving again,” and “Democrats who say that health insurance reform is key to jump-starting the economy by expanding coverage to the uninsured, lowering costs, and restricting the worst insurance company practices, and we must get it done this year.”
Fifty-four percent of respondents agreed with the Republican approach, versus 40 percent who agreed with the Democratic approach. That’s not because they like Republicans better than Democrats — they don’t — but because they want their leaders to directly address the economy and jobs.
To read more, turn to washingtonexaminer.com for the full article.
The Right Idea, Episode 31 – Middle Class Voters from The Winston Group on Vimeo.
What new strategies will help Republicans connect with Middle America? Kristen chats with the writers of “Grand New Party” – Ross Douthat from The New York Times and Reihan Salam from the New America Foundation – about key issues leaders must address when reaching out to voters.
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Politics Daily’s Walter Shapiro addresses what’s behind President Obama’s latest job approval ratings. Shapiro features some commentary from David Winston on why we’re hearing so much from “Obama foes”:
Anti-Obama passions are undeniably present, although they may not be as meaningful as advertised. In part, they reflect the high-decibel partisanship of a political dialogue defined by cable television and angry Web sites. As Republican pollster David Winston puts it, “I think there are things going on that have nothing to do with Obama, like the change in the political discourse.”
Access the entire article on Politics Daily
The Right Idea, Episode 23 – Microtargeting from The Winston Group on Vimeo.
How should campaigns reach out to a particular audience? Kristen talks to Craig Kirchoff from National Media, Inc. and Alex Lundry from TargetPoint Consulting. This week’s first episode answers what exactly microtargeting is about and why campaigns ought to focus on it.
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In a recent article in NRO by Robert Costa, David offers a strategist’s view on where Obama stands now that August recess is over and the health care debate still rages on. He also offers some advice for GOP leaders since they now have the opportunity to present a more viable alternative for Americans:
David Winston, a Republican pollster, agrees. He says that Obama “has to do a kind of reset on health care and figure out if he can regain the initiative on the policy debate, since he clearly lost the month of August.” Winston cautions, however, that Obama has bigger problems than his message. “One of the difficult stress points of a majority coalition is how you keep your base and the people beyond the base together to sustain that coalition. Health care is the first clear example where the two have divergent views.”
If Republicans are heartened by Obama’s summer stumble, that doesn’t mean they should relax. Republicans, says Winston, should work to create a “positive policy choice”…
To read the full article, access nationalreview.com
David was recently featured in an article by LA Times’ Peter Nicholas and Janet Hook about what’s to come from Obama in the next few weeks in terms of health care reform and lays out several issues that may arise. David provides some insight into Obama’s recent poll numbers:
“This is his big moment in managing a majority coalition,” said David Winston, a GOP strategist who compared Obama’s challenge to those faced — unsuccessfully — by three other former leaders: Clinton on healthcare, President George W. Bush on Social Security, and House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the budget battle that shut down part of the government during Clinton’s first term.
“Every one of them overreached,” said Winston. “But the question is, do they understand they have overreached? And what do they do in response?”
Access the LA Times article here