Photo: Moment RF
The Democrats have been aggressively campaigning on the economy this cycle. Despite the economic progress made by the Trump administration, polling shows Americans still aren’t happy with prices.
Even a recent CNN article has pointed out that the Trump administration is making progress on economic issues, but they also called out what they called a “K-shaped economy,” where wealth has grown, but many who are economically struggling haven’t been able to make financial progress.
As it turns out, this may have been more of a messaging issue for the Trump administration than a policy one. Political strategist Vlad Davidiuk said: “Shift the messaging from lowering prices to increasing take-home pay. That’s what’s really gonna hit the pocketbooks, and it’s really gonna hit the kitchen tables.”
He says that as good as the economic data coming out has been, prices don’t usually come down after they go up, so solving the affordability crisis is going to have the biggest effect on voters.
According to Davidiuk: “You can’t point to the stock market, inflation, or unemployment and say that’s the solution. Voters are voting their grocery bill. They don’t vote the Dow Jones.”
He says that as great as the metrics we’ve gotten recently are, there is a gap between the metrics and voters’ wallets, and the Republicans will need to close that gap.