This week, Kristen chats with Alex Lundry from Target Point and Kevin Madden from Dyke & Associates about the “Golf or Gulf” website, constituents breaking away from Democrats, Scott Brown’s backing of the financial reform bill, the word “liberal,” and the Apple fans.
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In Byron York’s latest piece for the Washington Examiner, The WG’s David Winston explains why Obama’s poll numbers look bad for Democrats in this mid-term election year:
Of course, Obama isn’t on the ballot this November. But his ratings contribute to what Winston calls the public’s “overall sense of the ability to govern.” From that perspective, Obama’s troubles are the Democrats’ troubles.
To read more about the poll numbers and Republican response to them, read the full article at washingtonexaminer.com
Thomas Beaumont writes in today’s Register about President Obama’s trip to Iowa, as well as his speech given to help gain support for the recently-signed law. Although Obama keeps his eye on health care, Beaumont turns to David Winston for insight into what the more pressing matter is:
“I’m sure he would like us to spend all our time on health care, but we’re not going to do that,” said Winston, a longtime adviser to the National Republican Congressional Committee.
“The No. 1 issue in the country is jobs and the economy, and I’m sure he’d love Republicans to take their eye off that,” Winston said.
Read the full story at desmoinesregister.com
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 Right Idea Episode 29 – The Olympics from The Winston Group on Vimeo.
Comments from left and right – mostly from the right – flew after Obama’s trip to Copenhagen failed to secure a win for Chicago to host the 2016 Olympics. Kristen chats with Abby Alger and The Winston Group’s Chris Anderson about what folks from the right said, what happened in Copenhagen, and possible reasons why Chicago lost the vote.
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The Right Idea Episode 25 – Campaigning vs. Governing from The Winston Group on Vimeo.
What’s happened since Obama stepped off the campaign trail and sat down in the Oval Office? Kristen talks to J.P. Freire from the Washington Examiner and Chris Beam of Slate magazine about what’s happened so far since the “honeymoon” ended and what to look forward to in 2012.
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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
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
The Right Idea, Episode 19: Tech & the Obama Administration from The Winston Group on Vimeo.
This week, Kristen Soltis talks to Patrick Ruffi from Engage and Liz Mair from Hynes Communications to address the current administration’s use of technology in terms of messaging, transparency, and other recent efforts.
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Addressing the backlash that President Obama has been facing lately at health care forums and townhalls, Los Angeles Times’ Mark Barabak turns to David Winston to point out what the protests and animosity really does to political debate.
“It hurts everybody,” said David Winston, an advisor to the House and Senate Republican leadership. “It makes the political process less connected to people’s lives and therefore makes it harder to get at the problems they face. . . . This is a discussion of about where our country goes. Not who can call somebody the worst name.”
To read more, access LA Times online
The Right Idea, Ep. 1 – The Obama Budget from The Winston Group on Vimeo.
The first episode of The Winston Group’s new podcast is up! “The Right Idea” is a video podcast that comes out twice a week featuring discussion of both current events and long-term strategy with some of Washington’s brightest young minds in politics and policy.
This week, Kristen Soltis talks to Matt Moon from The Tax Foundation and Nicole Kurokawa from the Cato Institute, about Obama’s budget proposals.
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Ben Franklin wisely called life “a kind of chess.”
For the past six weeks, Democrats and Republicans have been engaged in the biggest, riskiest, most costly game of political speed chess in the nation’s history.
A chess game starts with the “opening,” a series of moves that define the basic structure and direction the game is likely to take.
Sometimes chess players will begin with an unexpected opening to throw the opponent off. Then they execute a series of moves that takes the game back to a more familiar opening. That’s called transposition. (more…)
At The Next Right, I’ve blogged about my (very initial) hopeful reactions to the Obama victory. I’ve often heard that in Chinese, the character for “crisis” is a combination of the characters for “danger” and “opportunity”. While there is plenty of “danger” to be found in the results of yesterday’s election, I try to find the bright spots and potential opportunities that emerge from the pending Obama presidency. Click here for the piece.