WEIRD. Why am I only seeing this in Huffington Post? Oh yeah…that’s because other outlets have hyped up Democrat hopes for the midterm. They also think trashing President Donald Trump will help along with constantly talking about numerous social justice issues.

Top pollster Stan Greenburg, along with Democracy Corps’ Nancy Zdunkewicz, and Women Voices Women Vote President Page Gardner, has accepted reality and warned his party that their “momentum has stalled” and will not pick up if they don’t address real issues. You know, JOBS AND THE ECONOMY.

From HuffPo (emphasis mine):

“Democrats must not be distracted by the macro-economic and jobs-report numbers” Republicans have been touting, pollster Stan Greenberg wrote in a memo, authored with Democracy Corps’ Nancy Zdunkewicz and Page Gardner, president of the Women Voices Women Vote group. “It is a mistake to accept that GOP narrative and attribute credit to [former] President [Barack] Obama or insist it’s despite [President Donald] Trump and Republicans.” The memo added, “Voters, especially Democratic voters, are genuinely struggling in this economy. They remain in pain because rising costs outpace any pay increases.” The trio wrote that Democratic “momentum has stalled” in recent months because the party has failed to focus on “the economic and health care battles that most engage anti-Trump voters,” and because “Republican base voters, especially white working-class men, could finally point to a signature conservative policy achievement in the new tax cut law.”

*DRAMATIC PIANO MUSIC*

MESSAGING. I know it must kill the Democrats to budge away from killing unborn human beings or dressing up as vaginas. But the memos released by Greenberg, Zdunkewicz, and Gardener insist the party must make the economy a hot topic:

While previous polling indicated Democrats should discuss an economy “rigged against hard-working people in my state” and attack “corporate donors” and “trickle-down economics,” Greenberg and company recommend focusing more on worries about long-term deficit problems with a message slamming politicians for “their huge tax-giveaway to the big corporations and the richest 1% … that will blow up and endanger our future.” “A message from a Democrat ‘fed up’ with the rigged political and economic system is still popular with Democratic base and swing groups, but the deficits produced by the trillions [of dollars in] tax cuts for the rich” have shifted the priorities among these voters, the memo said. “They are consumed with the long-term impact on entitlements and investments for the future and the immediate reality that their urgent needs like education funding and help with health care will be put off yet again.” The memo also recommends a second message it says will help turn out young voters: pushing for stricter gun laws. “Republican inaction on gun control, however, may be even more important as an attack because it is the top attack among the millennials who lag in enthusiasm compared to every other Democratic base group,” Greenberg, Zdunkewicz and Gardner wrote.

Of course, these people think money grows on trees and obviously overcomplicate economics. I honestly doubt these memos filled with buzz words will work because recent polls and data have shown the tax cuts have offered relief to many.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll from April 16 showed that the number of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents registered to vote fell to 75% from 84% in November. Democrats once had a 10 point lead “among all adults,” but that has fallen “to 4 points among registered voters and 5 points among those who say they’re both registered and certain to vote.”

Then a Reuters poll earlier this week showed that millennials have started to move away from the Democrat Party because they’re more concerned about the economy than social justice issues. Reuters spoke with Terry Hood, 34, an African-American who took the poll. He voted for failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, but has now decided to “consider a Republican for Congress because he believes the party is making it easier to find jobs and he applauds the recent Republican-led tax cut.” He finds it “strange” to even mutter these words but noticed that the recent tax cuts have led to the government “taking less taxes” out of his paycheck.

A candidate for New Hampshire’s Congressional 1st district “touted her work as an environmental crusader” at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, but a lot of students brought up the local economy. One 18-year-old said more and more of her friends have started “looking to Republicans for economic leadership.”

I also blogged today about how capital spending has gone way up despite Democrats thinking that companies would use the tax cuts to benefit stockholders. Instead, a lot of companies, especially tech companies, have used that tax relief to re-invest into the business in order to expand and develop better products. The companies have also given employees bonuses.

4.30.18 Battleground Panel WVWVAF Memo by krobilla on Scribd

4.30.18 Battleground Panel WVWVAF by krobilla on Scribd



