The Winston Group

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.

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

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