I just got off the phone with the folks from the progressive standard-bearers Campaign for America's Future. Robert Borosage, Celinda Lake (it's definitely Celinda Lake Day at TAPPED), and Drew Westen announced a new economic policy war room that will be doing progressive messaging for the rest of the election.
Lake's polls show that the economy is the number one issue among a majority of voters, and it is particularly resonant with Independent voters, blue collar voters and women. 47 percent of voters say the economy is not being talked about enough. 75 percent said the economy is in a recession -- Lake joked that "every single demographic group except Presidential economic advisers" thinks this is the case. Obama has big leads over McCain on most economic issues -- jobs, healthcare, taxes, etc., and voters most focused on the economy support him by 16 points. A majority of Americans agree that "the economy is in recession and Washington is doing nothing."
Of course, CAF has an agenda, which is to make left-leaning candidates into populists -- see Borosage's article from our March issue. Lake tested three messages on the economy -- a conservative free-market message, a Democratic message, and a "Populist message with solutions." Unsurprisingly, the last option won by 26 points, although I'm skeptical of whether Lake's Democratic message, which she described as a series of critiques with no solutions, has any real world analogues. But this gave Westen a chance to make the point that progressives need to offer substantive alternatives, create emotional connections when discussing policies, and bring their values to the fore.
To the extent that Democrats aren't doing this, CAF's advice rings true, and I shared Noam's wince when Obama said "experts" during his otherwise excellent response to McCain's tire pressure criticisms. When McCain started criticizing him for saying this (he's since flip-flopped), it occured to me that Obama's advice was so good because it adopted the kind of tough-love, responsiblity rhetoric that could resonate among moderates -- this is the kind of common-sense advice Dads give! -- and he missed an opportunity to chide McCain on that front.
One the other hand, however, the Democrat who comes to mind when I think of communicating economic issues effectively is Bill Clinton, and say what you will about his economic policies as president, they are hardly what CAF is gunning for. More worrisome was the message that tested strongest in CAF's research: "I want to see the words 'Made in America' again." While that might be popular and populist, it's also xenophobic and the wrong answer to the problems presented by international trade.
--Tim Fernholz
