Making Ideas Matter.
By David Winston and Myra Miller
As we have raised before, the electorate has significant concerns about raising taxes in this fragile economic environment, particularly any tax increase that could impact small business. Voters believe that we need to do everything we can to help businesses get back on their feet so they can get Americans back to work to keep the economy moving in the right direction (70-18 believe-do not believe).
To read the full piece, click here.
A recent New York Magazine interview with Democratic pollster David Shor provided insights on how Democrats see challenges and opportunities for the 2022 midterm elections. One of the groups discussed in the interview is Hispanics, a group with which Republicans improved in the last election, taking Democrats by surprise. Based on the interview, Democrats seem to interpret their electoral challenges in the context of demographics, race and class, and less about voter belief systems and positions on issues. But Shor does recognize that white liberal elites are pushing the party to the left and alienating certain voter groups, including Hispanics: “…We’ve ended up in a situation where white liberals are more left wing than Black and Hispanic Democrats on pretty much every issue: taxes, health care, policing, and even on racial issues or various measures of ‘racial resentment.’ So as white liberals increasingly define the party’s image and messaging, that’s going to turn off nonwhite conservative Democrats and push them against us.”
Click here to read the full piece.
From our 2014 post-election analysis:
As a result of voter unhappiness not only about the economy but moving forward generally, people expect Republicans in Congress to focus their efforts on proposing and passing policies to improve the economy (71%). They didn’t vote for Republicans simply to be a check and balance on President Obama (23%)…
Ultimately, what this reflects is a country that continues to be unhappy with the current direction of the economy and have decided to give Republicans more governing responsibility…
What policies were most important to voters? What did they think of the role of government? Keep reading here.
From our 2014 post-election analysis:
As the 2014 campaign unfolded, the economy remained the number one issue.
Our post-election survey showed that the top issue overwhelmingly was the economy/jobs, with no other issue coming close. This was true across ideology, party, race, age, gender – virtually any subgroup of the electorate you could define.
President Obama tried to argue that an economic recovery, spurred by his policies, was moving the country forward, but that argument failed to resonate with an electorate that was simply not feeling the recovery. In fact, in the exit poll, 78% of the country said they were worried about the direction the economy would take next year and only 28% said their family’s financial situation had improved over the last two years.
Clearly, the country was looking for better solutions to fix the economy.
Read our full 2014 post-election analysis.