Can Democrats leverage Friday’s jobs report?
By Dan Balz, WashPost, Published: May 2
It has been a long time since the White House got the kind of good economic news that arrived on Friday morning with the latest jobs report. How real those numbers turn out to be and how much they boost Democrats’ chances of holding down their losses in November are now the questions of the moment.
Democratic strategists have been arguing for some time that the key to the November elections is to make the economy the focus of their political message. Through polling and focus groups, they’ve come away believing that the contrast between the two parties is best drawn on economic issues and on policies that affect the middle class.
That’s why President Obama and Vice President Biden have used their White House megaphone to try to paint Republicans as doing the bidding of the most affluent in society — and why the president has used his executive authority to try to produce more economic activity. That’s why Senate Democrats pushed for a vote to raise the minimum wage last week, only to be rebuffed by the Republican minority, which blocked consideration of the legislation.
The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll underscored why Democrats see these economic contrasts as a central plank in their November strategy. By 52-32 percent, Americans trust Democrats over Republicans on helping the middle class. By 49-33 percent, they say Democrats are closer to their position on whether the minimum wage should be raised.
(More here.)
It has been a long time since the White House got the kind of good economic news that arrived on Friday morning with the latest jobs report. How real those numbers turn out to be and how much they boost Democrats’ chances of holding down their losses in November are now the questions of the moment.
Democratic strategists have been arguing for some time that the key to the November elections is to make the economy the focus of their political message. Through polling and focus groups, they’ve come away believing that the contrast between the two parties is best drawn on economic issues and on policies that affect the middle class.
That’s why President Obama and Vice President Biden have used their White House megaphone to try to paint Republicans as doing the bidding of the most affluent in society — and why the president has used his executive authority to try to produce more economic activity. That’s why Senate Democrats pushed for a vote to raise the minimum wage last week, only to be rebuffed by the Republican minority, which blocked consideration of the legislation.
The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll underscored why Democrats see these economic contrasts as a central plank in their November strategy. By 52-32 percent, Americans trust Democrats over Republicans on helping the middle class. By 49-33 percent, they say Democrats are closer to their position on whether the minimum wage should be raised.
(More here.)
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1 Comments:
It will be interesting to see how DEM's spin the hundreds of thousands of people who have quit looking for a job.
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