• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Shop
  • Jobs Board
Campaigns & Elections logo

Campaigns & Elections

  • Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Articles
    • Industry News
    • CampaignTech
    • Creative
  • Videos
  • Buyer’s Guide
  • Reports
  • Expert Database
  • Events
  • Awards
    • Reed Awards
    • CampaignTech Awards
    • Rising Stars
  • Consultant Directory
  • Become a Member
  • Shop
  • Job Board
  • Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Dem strategists: Party needs to shift message on economy

A group of prominent Democratic strategists has a warning for President Obama and the party’s other candidates this fall: if the party doesn’t shift its message on the economy, Democrats “will face an impossible headwind in November.”   

A memo released Monday by Democracy Corps, the group headed by Democratic strategists Stan Greenberg and James Carville, warns that independents are not convinced the economy is headed in the right direction. The memo details focus groups comprised of weak Democrats, weak Republicans, and independents, which were conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research (GQRR) in the battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The strategists argue that focusing the economic message on “progress” misses the mark. The narrative should be proactive and instead center on “the future of the middle class” while zeroing in on programs like Social Security and Medicare.  

“We are losing these voters on the economy, but holding on because Romney is very vulnerable,” the strategists write in the memo. Romney, they claim, is “vulnerable on the Ryan budget and its impact on people; he is vulnerable on the choices over taxes. But in the current context, it produces a fairly diminished embrace of Obama and the Democrats, the lesser of two evils, without much feeling of hope.”  

Subscribe for Industry News Plus the Latest in Campaign Strategy & Tactics

Hidden
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

GQRR found in their focus groups that voters “are looking for the President to understand that the middle class desperately needs help and to show how the future will be better. All their ideas center on what he should do — not what he has done.”

In their focus groups, the strategists found that the Obama campaign’s 60-second spot titled “Forward,” which references signs of progress on the economy “gains no support beyond 2008 Obama supporters.”  

“This economy has made many voters feel disconnected from and at odds with the government in Washington,” the strategists conclude. “Messages that connect on a pocketbook level and commit to the programs voters rely on most have the capacity to be very powerful, particularly when the offer on the other side is suspicious and weak.”

Share:
FacebookTweetLinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

By
Erika Spicer
06/12/2012 12:00 AM EDT
FacebookTweetLinkedIn

C&E Creative Summit 2023 Countdown:

Get Tickets

Most Read

  • Digital Organizing

    How Digital Can Help Thread the Needle in Virginia

  • Sponsored

    Combine Digital Advertising With Direct Mail, The SMART Way

  • Sponsored

    Political Comms Is The Premium Peer-To-Peer Texting Platform

Subscribe for Industry News Plus the Latest in Campaign Strategy & Tactics

Hidden
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Become a member and get access to exclusive content.

Join Today

Footer

Upcoming Events

  • September 21

    Campaigns & Elections Creative Summit

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

For the latest in campaign strategy & tactics plus industry news and analysis, subscribe for free today.

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Follow us

Follow Campaign and Elections for more daily content.

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Contact

Copyright © 2023 Political World Communications, LLC

Advertisement

Subscribe for Industry News Plus the Latest in Campaign Strategy & Tactics

Hidden
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.