No More Mister Nice Blog pointed me to this story:
James Carville and Stan Greenberg’s Democracy Corps has been conducting focus groups of swing voters in swing states; a new report from the firm says that voters in the focus groups don’t really see signs of an economic recovery, which means they’re struggling to decide whether to vote for Obama again.
That’s a message the Obama campaign needs to hear. But the concern trolls who’ve told Obama that he should never bring up Bain Capital, and that he should have rushed into the loving embrace of Simpson and Bowles, need to listen up as well.
Why should they listen? Because they would hear loud and clear the message, “SHUT IT AND LET THE PRESIDENT HANDLE HIS BUSINESS!” From the report:
The voters are very sophisticated about the character of the economy; they know who is mainly responsible for what went wrong and they are hungry to hear the President talk about the future.
Romney is very vulnerable. They do not trust him because of who he is for and because he’s out of touch with ordinary people…
Romney is damaged heading into this race. Many of his supporters have trouble saying anything positive, simply he is “not Obama.”
Respondents immediately volunteer that Romney is rich, out of touch, and in the pocket for Wall Street and big finance.
The top six responses were all negative and all focused on Mitt Romney’s personal wealth, Wall Street connections, and cavalier attitude toward those less fortunate. The single most important issue for these voters was that Romney holds millions in an offshore account.
[Romney will enact] policies that keep himself and his class where they are. There’s a certain – I think there’s a certain level when you get so high up the business where you’re making so much money that you don’t need where you just lose some of your humanity and you just don’t care. (Non-college-educated woman, Columbus, OH)
He doesn’t have a clue. He made over 300 thousand dollars from ancillary income and he can’t understand why the average American can’t relate to him… He is disconnected. (College-educated man, Bala Cynwyd, PA)
These independent, Middle American voters seem to have a clear and simple message for President Obama: “KEEP FIGHTING!”
Also, unlike Bobo, Friedman, Nicole Wallace, Karen Tumulty, Harold Ford, Ed Rendell, and the majority of the FerengiMedia™ (including MSNBC’s entire lineup from dawn – 5:59PM), they have no interest at all in fluffing the whiny 1%ers:
I like Social Security, I liked that. I like food stamps. I’m not on food stamps but I know people that are and mothers and children. And there’s more to it than I need to think about – I need to think more about other people than myself. (Non-college-educated woman, Columbus, OH)
Hello Horserace Media – are you listening?
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