1: Working- & Middle-Class Americans

Focus on the economic concerns of working- and middle-class Americans

Other Information:

First, and most important, is focusing on the economic concerns of working- and middle-class Americans, many of whom now regard the Republican Party as beholden to "millionaires and billionaires" and as wholly out of touch with ordinary Americans. This is a durable impression—witness Bill Clinton's effective deployment of it more than 20 years ago and its continued resonance during the 2012 campaign when Team Obama portrayed Mitt Romney as a plutocrat who delighted in shutting down factories and moving jobs overseas. Sure enough, in November exit polls, 81 percent of voters said that Barack Obama "cared for people like me"; a mere 18 percent said the same of Romney. They also showed that a majority of Americans (53 percent) said Governor Romney's policies would generally favor the rich, versus only 34 percent who said he would favor the middle class... By tackling such issues in creative, practical, and persistent ways, the GOP would also be making a statement of political philosophy. Rather than being exclusively focused on budget numbers or individual economic rights, Republicans would be demonstrating a limited but active role for government: helping individuals attain the skills and values—the social capital—that allow them to succeed in a free economy. The Republican goal is equal opportunity, not equal results. But equality of opportunity is not a natural state; it is a social achievement, for which government shares some responsibility. The proper reaction to egalitarianism is not indifference. It is the promotion of a fluid society in which aspiration is honored and rewarded.

Stakeholder(s):

• Republican Party


• Working-Class Americans


• Middle-Class Americans

Objective(s):

1.1: Traditional Strengths

1.2: Class Warfare Image

1.2.1: Corporate Welfare

1.2.1.1: Cronyism

1.3: Big Banks

1.4: Social Mobility

1.4.1: Education

1.4.2: Job Training

1.4.3: College Attendance & Completion

1.4.4: Teen Pregnancy

1.4.5: Infant & Child Health

1.4.6: Wealth-Building & Entrepreneurship

Content