Turnout is always an issue in elections — and this year the stakes are high with both control of the Senate and House hanging in the balance. Democrats appear to be losing a grip on the wave of support they saw this summer in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision on abortion.
Now the party is shifting its election-related messaging to acknowledge the pain of rising prices caused by inflation, with polls showing the economy — not abortion — is top of mind for voters. The latest survey from Rutgers-Eagleton confirms the majority of those surveyed said they support the Inflation Reduction Act, but don’t think it will do much to help their family’s finances.
Bergen Record columnist Charles Stile says fighting inflation concerns is an uphill battle for Democratic candidates. “They have not formulated an effective pushback, or message, about inflation. The Republicans have made that their mantra: inflation, inflation, inflation. They’re holding themselves out as the alternative to Democratic rule. They don’t really provide any substantive or compelling solutions on how they’re going to rein inflation. They’re just pointing the finger at the incumbent Democrats under the incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden,” Stile said.
Democrats, Stile said, were “counting heavily on the Inflation Reduction Act as a way to inoculate themselves against some of those charges, but it just hasn’t been the great shield that they thought it would be when the president signed that law with great fanfare this summer.”
