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Lojo's avatar

I think the good news for us is that the benefit of the GOP push about the "economy being bad" is mainly in that it pushes up negatives in polling but doesn't drive more voters to the polls (because it is more about opposing Biden than anything else). We know from 2022, when inflation was bad, that "concerns about the economy" present in polls was not what drove folks to the polls (we did not have a red wave). What drove them to the polls was protecting abortion rights and democracy. The argument that now - when inflation is better - that the economy will be the main issue for voters going to the polls next November is weak and wrongheaded.

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Victor Thuronyi's avatar

Just a bit of pushback on the "we are better off" argument. I think it is important whenever one says that we are better off to qualify it in two ways. First, it is an average and while it may be the case that the majority is better off, it is important to acknowledge that many people are struggling and are not better off. For example, someone who now cannot buy a house because mortgage rates have gone up is not better off. The other qualifyer is that even if many are better off, it does not negate that there is still work to be done. Inequality remains high. The point here is that Democrats are going to do the work of reducing inequality, Republicans are not. I would argue that any time we make an argument that the economy is doing well, we need to include these qualifyers, otherwise we are perceived as tone deaf.

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