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Ellison's Must Read of the Day

November 10, 2014

My must read of the day is "10 reasons Americans are down on the economy," in CBS News:

Experts say the U.S. economy is turning around, but many Americans just aren't buying it.

Growth is picking up, unemployment is down, inflation is low and consumers are getting more confident. The economy is widely expected to continue improving, with most of the ingredients in place for a stronger recovery.

Of course, it's one thing to be told things are getting better, quite another to see it and know in your bones that things have turned a corner. And for much of America, that simply isn't happening.

Look at the exit polling from last week's midterm elections. The message in survey after survey was clear: Most people think the economy is headed in the wrong direction. Generally, when people think the country is on the wrong track, they hold the president's party responsible. That held true last week, as Democrats got soundly shellacked.

But why are Americans so pessimistic even as the economic picture looks brighter? As it turns out, there are a number of problems festering under the surface of the recovery that people just can't ignore.

As it became apparent that Democrats would lose control of the Senate, some pundits and strategists contended that Senate Democrats missed an opportunity to talk about the economy and that if they lost, it would be because they didn’t talk about the economy enough.

It was highly unlikely Democrats could convince voters the economy was doing well and this CBS article explains why.

On paper, the economy has improved, but most voters don’t feel it and the economy is not doing well enough for it to trump all of the other problems and concerns surrounding both domestic and foreign policy.

In 2006, President George W. Bush wanted voters to focus on the economy as well, but they couldn’t find a message that would "break through." Why? Because there were other, more compelling issues that seeped into the front of voter’s minds—same thing this cycle. When it comes to the economy specifically, there are far too many underlying economic concerns for most to feel that the state of the economy is improving, and there is no way Senate Democrats would have preformed better by focusing on it.

Published under: 2014 Election