FEATURED CONTENT | | August 12, 2010
Voters take the long view, seeing the need for both a commitment to a 21st century economy and long-term strategies to reduce the deficit. These are complimentary, not exclusive goals. Progressives need to show they are serious about the deficits, but once they do, voters turn to them, not conservatives, for the right spending priorities and answers.
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Voters take the long view, seeing the need for both a commitment to a 21st century economy and long-term strategies to reduce the deficit. These are complimentary, not exclusive goals. Progressives need to show they are serious about the deficits, but once they do, voters turn to them, not conservatives, for the right spending priorities and answers.
Monthly tracking from Citizen Opinion shows troubling trends in the public’s experience, perceptions and conclusions. Virtually every personal measure has returned to the lowest point on our seven months of tracking and macro-expectations have darkened too. These shifts coincide with news in July of slower job growth, persistently high unemployment and weaker than expected 2nd quarter GNP growth.
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and Democracy Corps, in conjunction with Revolution Messaging, conducted a straw poll of progressive activists, journalists, and bloggers at the Netroots Nation conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is the third year the straw poll has been conducted at the conference, the first time participants have been able to take the poll via text message, and the largest straw poll conducted yet at the conference, with over 300 people participating.
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Voter reaction to the president’s economic discussion in the State of the Union shows that Democrats have a lot to learn about their economic narrative in the coming year. Voters responded very positively to the president’s turn to jobs as priority number one for the next year, but they responded differently to politicians talking about progress and success. With the economy growing at its fastest pace in six years and wages growing at their slowest in the past quarter-century, there is a growing gap that makes the communication about the economy harder, not easier.
In his first State of the Union address tonight, Barack Obama demonstrated a clear understanding of the problems facing the country and outlined a path forward that swing voters want to see their members of Congress follow. Especially in his understanding of the economic challenges we face, his aggressive stance on financial reform and bringing accountability to Wall Street, and his commitment to fighting for solutions to the country’s problems, the president dispelled many doubts that had clouded attitudes toward him and rallied swing voters to his agenda for change. The challenge remains whether he can convince a visibly recalcitrant and divided Congress to act.
The self-identifying conservative Republicans who make up the base of the Republican Party stand a world apart from the rest of America, according to focus groups conducted by Democracy Corps. These base Republican voters dislike Barack Obama to be sure – which is not very surprising as base Democrats had few positive things to say about George Bush – but these voters identify themselves as part of a ‘mocked’ minority with a set of shared beliefs and knowledge, and commitment to oppose Obama that sets them apart from the majority in the country.
Click here to see Democracy Corps Senior Adviser Karl Agne discussing the report on MSNBC Morning Meeting on October 19.
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