A new poll showing 67 percent of swing voters view expanding businesses and job creation are the best way to reduce economic inequality, not raising the minimum wage, which is the argument of the Democratic leadership. The findings are believed to be opening up a serious riff among Democrats who have to face voters in November.
Additionally, 59% of swing voters see reforming the welfare system would also help reduce income inequality. That result is the opposite of the Democratic Party’s economic positioning.
The poll was conducted by Each American Dream, a new advocacy group with a budget of $1 million. Via The Hill, “A new political advocacy group has teamed up with former Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) to argue that the economic inequality agenda of Senate Democrats is a loser with swing voters”.
GOP pollster Frank Luntz conducted the national survey of 1,200 voters. The results have been shared with the congressional offices of both parties.
While Senate Democratic Policy Chairman Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has tried to rally Democrats around a populist economic agenda centered on raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, Kyl is quietly talking with centrist senators about protecting the interests of employers and high-income earners.
Kyl says Democrats, including Schumer, are more receptive to his arguments than they publicly acknowledge.
While a majority of swing voters do believe there is a problem with income distribution in the United States, the takeaway is that their thinking on solving the issue is significantly more in line with republican and conservative ideas and proposals, than those of the liberal Democratic Party.
Given that the Democrat’s leadership is already deeply invested in pushing their more economically populist message now viewed as unpopular with critical swing voters, it’s fair to say an already struggling Democrat Party is heading into the mid-terms in disarray. The unpopularity of Barack Obama was already seen as a significant drag on the party in November.
The Luntz survey found that 44 percent of registered voters see a decline in the cultural values of hard work and personal responsibility as the primary cause for poverty. Only 14 percent blamed education inequality, and only 5 percent pointed to a lack of government programs for the needy.
Kyl said he expects his former GOP colleagues to begin challenging the Democrats’ inequality platform more directly in the months ahead.
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