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
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
Thomas Beaumont of the Des Moines Register features David in a recent article profiling Iowan voters and getting insights about the GOP from Iowan Republicans.
“I think the conservative brand is generally fine,” said Republican pollster David Winston. “But the Republican brand has difficulty at this point. And there’s no question that, until the party stops being the opposition party and starts being the alternative party, it’s not going to help its brand.”
To read more, turn to DesMoinesRegister.com
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
Dan Gilgoff in today’s US News and World Report writes:
Last week, the National Republican Congressional Committee called a meeting with activists on the right, including religious conservatives, to discuss the lessons of New York 23. “Any time you have a loss like we did in 2008, there’s a debate about how the party should go forward,” says David Winston, the pollster for congressional Republicans. “But New York 23 showed that that debate could be poisonous.”
“Faith-Based Challenges Show a New Rift in the GOP”: US News and World Report
David Winston is featured in Politico’s report on the Bipartisan Policy Center’s inaugural summit, which took place in New Orleans on November 9th and 10th. The summit brought together several pundits from both sides of the political spectrum, and proved that they actually can get along:
One attendee told POLITICO that the pundits’ attitude was very much “they’re willing to work together when that works and they’re willing to club each other when clubbing is appropriate.”
To read more of the Politico story, access it here.
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
Ben Pershing writes about the divergent views within the GOP on why Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman lost the NY-23 Congressional race against Democrat Bill Owens. The Winston Group’s David Winston weighed in on how clashes between the base and moderates can affect off-year elections:
“This is not a simplistic problem,” said Republican pollster David Winston. “You watched Democrats go through this after the 1994 election. It’s the constant tension within any political party.”
To read the full article, click to the Washington Post’s website.
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.
David, in a memo to House Minority Leader John Boehner, writes that Democrats are neglecting the economy (still the top issue among the electorate) in their focus on healthcare. Reid Wilson of The Hill discusses the memo.
“Yet as jobs reports continue to be grim and as Americans question whether the stimulus has worked, the president and congressional Democrats remain focused on health insurance reform rather than the economy,” Winston wrote.
From Walter Shapiro’s column about the next round of elections:
“Big themes will emerge for this off-year election just as they did for 1994-1998-2002-2006 races,” said Republican pollster David Winston, who advises the congressional Republican leadership. “That’s why to assume that the 2010 elections will automatically follow a historical pattern — when there have been so many major changes in political communication in recent years — is to miss the big picture.” Presidential politics permanently changed with the 1960 election and the over-arching importance of television. The same kind of transformation may have begun occurring in the mid-1990s with the proliferation of cable television channels and the emergence of the Internet.
The Economy and the 2010 Elections: Bleak Assumptions May Be Premature [Politics Daily]
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
Initiative Releases Poll Revealing Vast Majority of Americans Do Not Believe U.S. Education System is World’s Best, Have Concerns Over Its Impact on the Nation’s Economy
Hollywood, Calif. – Sept. 8, 2009 – Viacom (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, along with initiative partners AT&T, Capital One Financial Corporation and NYSE Euronext, today launched Get Schooled with a national broadcast and an education conference at the Paramount Pictures lot. The five-year initiative aims to generate greater awareness and engagement in addressing the nation’s education crisis and to offer practical resources and support to students.
“We couldn’t be having this conversation at a better time,” said Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Gates Foundation. “The education crisis is damaging our ability to compete in the global economy, and we need to do more to engage all Americans – from policymakers and corporate leaders to families and young people – in our efforts to support students in completing their education and achieving their dreams.”
The Get Schooled initiative also announced today the results of a poll conducted by The Winston Group showing that an overwhelming percentage of Americans believe that the United States is lagging behind other nations when it comes to the quality of education. Eighty-one percent of survey respondents said that they do not believe that the United States has the best public education system in the world. Eighty-nine percent believe that if American students are not receiving as good of an education as their overseas counterparts, it will have a negative effect on the American economy.
“We are committed to raising awareness and, even more importantly, to converting that awareness into action,” said Philippe Dauman, President and CEO of Viacom. “Improving the workforce readiness of America’s upcoming generations is a business imperative. By 2020, our nation may be short 14 million college-educated workers, and the trends are moving against us. The cost to the U.S. economy of students unprepared to enter college and the workforce is estimated at close to $4 billion dollars annually in lost wages and remedial education costs. But the long-term cost is exponentially greater.”
From 2006 to 2016 there will be more than two million new jobs created requiring at least an associate degree or postsecondary training, according to the New Democratic Leadership Council. However, the reality is that two-thirds of American ninth graders will not be prepared for college within four years, and half of those who actually go to college will never earn a degree.
“Investing in a well-educated workforce may be the single most important thing we can do to help the U.S. remain a leader in the global economy,” said Charlene Lake, Senior Vice President for Public Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer for AT&T. “If we come together as business leaders, policymakers, parents and as a community, we can ensure that today’s students have the skills and knowledge for meaningful careers, and that American businesses have a deep and diverse talent pool from which to hire. AT&T is proud to be a partner in Get Schooled.”
As part of Get Schooled’s mission to foster a national dialogue on education issues, AT&T is organizing “screening parties” and discussions around the premiere of the TV broadcast of Get Schooled: You Have the Right. Local events, organized with community partners, will take place in 14 cities across the nation.
“NYSE Euronext is proud to partner with all the sponsors of the Get Schooled initiative. Improving America’s education system is critically important to the future of our children and our prosperity,” said Duncan L. Niederauer, CEO of NYSE Euronext. “To continue developing future generations of innovators and investors, we must ensure that our young people are equipped with the necessary skills to compete in the global marketplace and succeed in life. At NYSE Euronext, we have a long-standing commitment to financial literacy, and we are pleased to offer our expertise and brand behind this great initiative.”
“At Capital One we recognize that one of the most important investments we can make in the future is an investment in education,” said Carolyn Berkowitz, President of Capital One Foundation and Vice President for Community Affairs at Capital One. “We are proud to support programs like Get Schooled to help reinforce the importance of financial literacy. Our goal is to help give students a solid foundation of money management knowledge and skills so that they can make wise financial choices in the future.”
The launch of Get Schooled, at the Paramount Pictures lot, includes a conference featuring a line-up of distinguished speakers: Bill Gates, Philippe Dauman, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Tony Miller, filmmaker Davis Guggenheim, author and political columnist Arianna Huffington, New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein and Los Angeles-area High School Athletic Director Stephen Minix. The education conference will be attended by an audience of almost one thousand – including corporate and nonprofit partners, students, thought leaders, celebrities and other education stakeholders. Its goal is to highlight fresh perspectives on ways to dramatically increase high school graduation rates and college completion rates. The speakers will draw from their personal and professional experiences, sharing insights on how to ensure that all students receive a top-notch education and are ready to compete in a global marketplace.
The launch events on the Paramount Pictures lot also include the premiere of the Get Schooled: You Have the Right documentary featuring President Barack Obama, Kelly Clarkson and LeBron James, and three professionals who work alongside them, which will air across all of Viacom’s U.S. networks, including BET, MTV, VH1, CMT, Comedy Central, Spike TV, TV Land and Nickelodeon, at 8 p.m. Eastern/Pacific and 7 p.m. Central.
ABOUT THE WINSTON GROUP POLL
The Winston Group survey of 1,000 voters nationwide probed Americans’ views about education. The telephone survey was conducted Aug. 23-27, 2009 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.
ABOUT GET SCHOOLED
Get Schooled is a national program that connects, inspires and mobilizes people – from policymakers and corporate leaders to communities and kids – to find effective solutions to the problems facing our education system. It provides resources and information, community outreach and creative programming that engage a range of audiences to address America’s education crisis. Get Schooled’s co-developers are the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Viacom, including BET Networks, MTV Networks and Paramount Pictures. The initiative combines the Foundation’s deep knowledge of education reform with the power of Viacom’s diverse brands to raise awareness about the challenges facing America’s public education system and provide information and solutions for students and their families.
To find out more about Get Schooled and the initiative’s groundbreaking national television premiere airing today, visit www.getschooled.com.