townhall
Matt Vespa Matt Vespa |Posted: Sep 13, 2017 4:30 PM
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https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2017/09/13/tough-love-democratic-operatives-tear-apart-the-partys-current-strategy-for-201-n2381001Democrats may be hoping to gain a midterm wave. They may be hoping even more to boot Donald J. Trump from the White House in 2020. The president’s response to the Charlottesville violence, the rolling back of the Deferred Action of Childhood Arrivals, Russian collusion hysteria, the slow pace of enacting his agenda—all of these things have Democrats grinning, expect that they shouldn’t. The party’s own operatives and data crunchers have run through the numbers based on focus groups, and Democrats are still heading for the electoral ditch. They still have yet to mount an effective attack against the Trump White House. The ones they’ve fired off aren’t working. The Democratic agenda is falling flat with voters outside of their base.
You bring up college-free tuition, something Democrats think is popular, registers poorly with voters, who feel “free” is a cheap selling trick if not an outright lie. They’re right about that. Even single-payer is on shaky ground, with voters being "suspicious" of the policy's actual benefits.
In all, while Trump’s approval ratings might be in the low 40s by the time the 2018 midterms hit, it’s appallingly naïve for the Left to think a blue wave is coming based on that factor alone. Right now, as one media operative noted, “If that’s the attitude that’s driving the Democratic Party, we’re going to drive right into the ocean.” For some memos to candidates, firms are saying they should drop free college altogether, focusing on making it more affordable, reducing the debt, and push job training. So, even some are suggesting the party’s agenda is just too bi-coastal, too elite, too out-of-touch, which pretty much represents the issues plaguing the Democratic Party (via Politico) [emphasis mine]:
