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More Common Good & Politics of Definition

Parts I and II of the Teixeira and Halpin study is online, where the duo points out that in key swing demographics, Democrats face a significant gap on the question of "knowing what they stand for". In large part this is due to the constant mantra from GOP allies in reactionary talk radio and the he-said, she-said nature of most political reporting. Call it the "identity gap" or the "conviction gap", the authors claim that perceived indecisiveness leads to issue bleeding, pointing out that despite 53% disapproval for the situation in Iraq, Bush won a majority, thanks to the 36% of voters who thought it was going "somewhat badly" that voted for Bush (search for "how things are going"). In addition, only 45% of the public "trusted Kerry to handle the economy", which is absurd, considering that under the last Democratic President the economy took of like a rocket and saw wage gains up and down the income ladder.

Unfortunately, Teixeira & Halpin don't offer much evidence for their thesis. They point out that even among constituencies that Democrats win, the party often faces a gap on the question of "knowing what they stand for", Bush's support even among voters who thought Iraq was going poorly, and the puzzling results on the economy. It's possible that the second result is really a proxy for "do you trust Kerry not to raise your taxes", and the first result is simply due to the built-in Republican "advantage" on foreign policy, one that has probably disappeared at this point. But "The Politics of Definition" is trying to argue that issue failures and the identity gap are linked; that it's simply impossible to improve Democratic performance on these issues without convincing voters that they "know what they stand for". Perhaps, and at this point, I'll try anything.

I think Drum's criticisms of the T&H strategy are off the mark. There's nothing wrong with searching for key constituencies, and using their views of the world to shape your message. Not surprisingly, a lot of swing voters are concerend about health care, economic insecurity, and Iraq.

Also, not surprisingly, John Edwards gets this.

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Last updated by Nicholas Beaudrot on 06:54 25 April 2006