David Winston, a Republican pollster who advises GOP congressional leaders, suggested that the same dynamic is at play down the ballot.

“Any day that Democrats don’t have the issue be jobs and the economy is a day they’re doing better,” he said. “That’s probably a good day for all Democratic candidates.”

To read the full story, turn to washingtonpost.com.

So long as Republicans can connect the gas price issue to the broader economy, they have an edge over Democrats, particularly because voters appear to favor a two-pronged approach of more drilling now and pushing for alternative energy sources for the future, Winston said. “There’s a much more realistic sense of we’ve got to meet present energy needs.”

To read the full article turn to washingtonpost.com.

Perhaps most striking was Winston’s messaging advice: It showed that GOP talking points over the past year have been largely useless. A recent poll that he presented in a slideshow indicated that when considering the 2012 election, 58 percent of the country thinks the phrase ““Where are the jobs?” is more important than what the size and role of government should be, which registers at 37 percent.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/

The debate performance didn’t help, Republican pollster David Winston said.
“It was a very difficult thing to watch,” he said. “Anything is possible but this is a really deep hole.”

To read more, turn to usatoday.com

“The electorate is following this election very closely and they are going to think through every piece of information that is put in front of them in the most thoughtful way they can,” he said. “This is an election where everyone is concerned about direction of the country

Read more: The Olympian

“The challenge for the Republican presidential field is to stay on topic, to let the No. 1 issue be the No. 1 issue,” said David Winston, an adviser to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

To read more, go to therepublic.com

“What he’s obviously trying to do is model himself on Harry Truman and the ‘do-nothing Congress,’ ” said David Winston, a Republican strategist. “The problem with that is that the unemployment rate in November of 1948 was 3.8 percent.”

To read the full article, access it at nytimes.com

“There’s a door open such that people are willing to look at him and his accomplishments,” says Republican pollster David Winston. “Voters want candidates who say what they’ll do and try to lay out solutions.”

To read the full article, turn to csmonitor.com

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

“What’s that compelling idea that says to the electorate: You should be president?” he explains. “I think that’s what [Gingrich] would like to be able to present; I think that’s what all the Republican candidates would ultimately like to present.”

To read the full article, access it at usnews.com

“I’m not sure I’ve seen any,” says Republican pollster David Winston. “There is this sense that since we haven’t gotten to a clear, decisive winner, then that means there must be dissatisfaction. But it could mean that people are still thinking it through.”

To read the full article, you can access it at campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com.

David Winston, a GOP political strategist, told The Fiscal Times on Tuesday afternoon before the speech: “[Christie] is a major figure. But his impact on the primary race at this point is unclear.”

To read the full article, turn to thefiscaltimes.com.

“I don’t think what happened to her is unusual,” said Winston, who is based in Washington, D.C. “But she clearly missed an opportunity in growing her support.”

To read the full article, turn to desmoinesregister.com

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

He pointed to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that found voters prefer a Republican-controlled Congress by the widest margin, 6 points, in more than a year.

“The House is going to take the proposals the White House put forward, look through them and try to find out where there can be clear common ground, and once that emerges, then we’ll see what the White House’s reaction is to that,” Winston said.

Read more on politico.com

“This isn’t about how you’re going to position Republicans,” Winston said. “This is about how are you going to position the president if he’s going to have a chance to win re-election.”

To read the full article, click to usatoday.com

“In terms of building a majority coalition within the Republican Party, he has quite a bit of work to do,” says David Winston, a Republican pollster. In addition, “his lead is based on some initial perceptions of him, things he has said that have intrigued people. But the Republican electorate has not gone through the vetting process with him yet.”

To read more, click to csmonitor.com

“There’s a difference between saying, ‘He’s slightly ahead,’ and saying, ‘He’s the front-runner,’” said Winston.

“For a lot of people, they’re hearing the specifics about him for the first time. They initially saw him as this charismatic speaker, had some interesting things to say that intrigued them,” continued Winston. “It’s a natural period of initial engagement, followed by some vetting.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/

And anxious independent voters, in the words of Republican pollster David Winston, “aren’t looking for a conversation, they are looking for a plan.”

To read more, check out politico.com

“This weekend’s speech is going to be critical because he is going to go through his whole reasoning, and explain how he is going to be positioning himself in relation to the other candidates and how he feels he is going to win,” said Republican pollster David Winston.

To read the full article, turn to thehill.com

That’s why David Winston said he reminds Republicans that “just because people are unhappy with the president doesn’t mean they’re going to vote for somebody else. The Republican candidates have the challenge to come up with that compelling idea that shows people they’re ready to govern.”

To read the full article, turn to realclearpolitics.com

To read more about the GOP and the debt ceiling, turn to washingtonexaminer.com

“Given how far out we are from the conclusion, it’s unclear how the public would assign blame, and if an agreement isn’t reached, it will be negative for the entirety of Washington,’’ he said. “Republicans fundamentally believe that raising taxes would cause the economy to contract when we want it to expand.’’

To read the full article, turn to nationaljournal.com

“She clearly represents a segment of the party that is not enough, at least at this point, to get the nomination,” said David Winston. “Once she’s outside of Iowa, if she gets there, she needs a strategy to try and reach the majority of Republicans and some Independents. I haven’t seen that yet.”

To read the full article, turn to thefiscaltimes.com

“Are those folks right to be nervous about where the organization is right now? Sure,” said Winston, who has done work in Iowa. “For Bachmann, it’s: ‘What do we do to catch up?’ But I don’t think at this point anyone could say, ‘No, she can’t do that.’”

To read the full article, turn to desmoinesregister.com

Mr. DAVID WINSTON (Republican strategist): There’s a lot he’s going to have to do to develop the substance and content because it clearly was not in that speech. And I think that’s the challenge. And part of what he’s got to manage here is how does he make having been governor of Utah and ambassador to China for President Obama appeal to Republican primary electorate? Ultimately, he hasn’t answered the substance question yet.

To read the full transcript or listen to the story, turn to npr.org

“One of the reasons that no one has broken away from the pack is because no one has come up with a clear set of economic policies … at a time when people are unhappy with the president’s economic policies,” Winston said.

Read more at the Washington Examiner.

“The key for Newt is to focus on his policy ideas and solutions for problems facing the country, which is his strength,” said Republican pollster David Winston. “When the discussion about him is not about that, he does not do as well.”

To read the full article, turn to washingtonpost.com

“The challenge to Republicans is to offer an alternative that builds a majority coalition,” said David Winston, a Republican strategist. “At this point, where you’ve heard the policy discussions occurring have not been within the Republican presidential primary but among the Republican members of Congress.”

To read the full article, turn to cnbc.com

“The Democrats want to cherry-pick issues and make it just about Medicare, whereas the challenge for Republicans is to broaden it to make it about economy, jobs and making government solvent, and Medicare is part of that,” Mr. Winston said.

To read the full article, turn to wsj.com

Winston says the difference between this effort to rein in Medicare and past Republican attempts to do the same is that more voters are aware of the nation’s dire debt situation and that more of them understand Medicare is going broke.

“Dealing with Medicare is how we’re going to make the government solvent so that we can get the economy back on track,” he said.

Read more: politico.com

What Gingrich has going for him is that presidential elections are about something beyond gauzy biographical ads and rehearsed debate one-liners. “We’re in the personality phase of the campaign,” says Republican pollster David Winston, who worked for Gingrich when he was House speaker. “But eventually it’s going to move from personality to policy. GOP voters are going to ask, ‘What are your solutions to fix the nation’s problems?’ And that is the moment that plays to Newt’s greatest strength.”

To read more, turn to tnr.com

The Republican challenge is “making sure this discussion is broader than simply Medicare,” said David Winston, a GOP strategist who advises House leadership.

To read the full article, check out chicagotribune.com

“There are certain things with individuals that if they have to cut back, they will cut back,’’ said David Winston, a Republican pollster in Washington and an adviser to Boehner. “Gasoline is not one of them. What are they supposed to do? Go half way to work?’’

To read the full article, turn to daytondailynews.com

Indeed, Obama faces broader questions about his foreign policy strategy. Debate will intensify this summer over his decision to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.

“This is an important accomplishment,” said GOP pollster David Winston. “It sets up, ‘Where does he go from here?’ ”

Read the full article ontampabay.com

“This is a significant accomplishment. There is absolutely no question about it,” Mr. Winston said. “But the dynamic in terms of, what is the Obama Doctrine, are not necessarily the same thing. Now that this particular significant achievement has occurred, what does he do with it? Now where do we go from here?”

To read the full article, turn to nytimes.com

“If people thought the country was heading in the wrong direction, this has just made it worse,” GOP pollster David Winston said.

To read the full article, turn to washingtonpost.com

“I think the public is tired of the political discourse and they want to hear some substance going back and forth,” said pollster David Winston, who advises House GOP leaders.

To read the full article, turn to wsj.com

“People see through this,” Winston said. “That’s just a political gimmick. They want some real substance discussed here, and they want to hear some real policy debates — not sort of trite political advertising.”

“People believe increasing taxes hurts economic growth,” said Winston.

Winston added that when the tax debate heats up over the coming months, several facts — the U.S. corporate tax is the highest in the world and ending the Bush tax cuts on those earning $250,000 and above would impact 894,000 small businesses to name two — that aren’t widely known by the public will help Republicans ultimately win the tax debate.

To read the full article, turn to washingtonpost.com

“Last time, you had a lot of people in for an extended period of time, and that didn’t really accrue any particular advantage,” said David Winston, a CBS News analyst and longtime Republican strategist.

To read the full article, turn to cbs.com

Republicans are infuriated by Democrats’ claims that they are threatening a government shutdown, calling it a hyperbolic scare tactic that ignores repeated GOP leaders’ assertions that they weren’t seeking a shutdown. “Boehner has been very clear—publicly and in private with the Republican conference —that the goal is to get the [budget] passed, not to shut down the government,” said David Winston, a GOP pollster who advises congressional leaders.

Read the full story at marketwatch.com

“All the discourse is: is government going to shut down? My sense of what McConnell is trying to drive home is we finally have the situation to actually get some things done,” Winston said, adding that the upcoming debates over the continuing resolution and debt ceiling present “this unique bipartisan moment” that could remake the nation’s fiscal outlook.
“What McConnell was trying to do was to get David Gregory to think differently about the opportunity,” Winston said.

To read the full article, access it at govexec.com

“This is a country that fundamentally believes that the success of this country is based on the private sector,” Winston says. “People see an imbalance that’s really dramatically changed in the last two years, where the public sector plays too large a role in terms of determining what the private sector can do and can’t do, given that that’s where the innovation comes from and how this country moves forward.”

Read more on Newsmax.com: GOP Strategist: Focus on Policies, Not Personalities

ENERGY INDEPENDENCE
Q: Why doesn’t Congress develop legislation that will move us to be energy independent? Developing jobs, keeping U.S. dollars at home would probably do more to make us fiscally sound faster and without uncertainty. It means continuing to develop alternate fuels but also being realistic about our fossil fuel needs for the next 20-30 years.
A: DAVID WINSTON :
Good question. Republicans were glad to hear that the President seemed to embrace an “all of the above” approach, which would work toward alternative energy while expanding resources here at home, both in terms of oil exploration and nuclear capacity. While his rhetoric was good, we will see what his actions produce. The most critical piece will be the impact on the economy.

To read the full list of questions along with David’s answers, turn to washingtonpost.com

“Are [voters] unhappy with the health-care plan? Sure,” said Republican strategist David Winston. “But they’re more unhappy with the unemployment rate. The key thing is to make sure it’s clear in their minds how it’s related.”

To read the full article, access it at wsj.com

To access the interview, go to npr.org

“There’s going to be a natural cautiousness,” said pollster David Winston, who advises House Republican leaders. “Members are thinking through how they can have an effective debate without it being disagreeable.”

To read the full article, click bloomberg.com

A new election analysis by GOP pollster and adviser David Winston, head of the Winston Group, says that Boehner’s question beat out Obama’s “keys to the car” analogy by a mile. The reason: Voters wanted Washington to concentrate exclusively on jobs, not healthcare, the environment, or other problems Obama addressed.

To read the full article, access it at usnews.com