On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) stated that “We can’t tell people the economy is good or things are getting better, if they don’t feel it.” And noted that “Doing anything right now is more expensive because of inflation. This is still the period outside of COVID, when we saw things just skyrocket. They went up super quick, and they’re coming down much slower.”
Moskowitz began by saying he doesn’t have the same concerns about Biden’s re-election prospects as former Obama adviser David Axelrod and Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips (D-MN), and “we should look at the poll. We’ve got to get into the data, and we can figure out how we need to improve our messaging, because I do think we have a messaging issue, in that we’ve got to continue to feed the beast every single, solitary day. One of the things we learned is that Donald Trump was on TV a lot. He got a lot of interviews in the last election, and because of that, people just saw him and got his name ID out — not that Joe Biden doesn’t have good name ID — but Trump is on TV every single, solitary day now, three times a day, four times a day sometimes, we’re seeing it played over and over. Joe Biden’s got to get out there and we’ve got to get our surrogates out there. Because we do have to message, not just to young people. We have to explain what Donald Trump is going to do if he returns. I just read an article of the 18 things Donald Trump would do when he comes back. Some of them are just outrageous, like starting to deport people, Muslim bans all over again, it’s just absolutely lunacy.”
Host Jake Tapper then said, “One of the key issues to historically motivated voters is the economy. And while the numbers on jobs and spending, even inflation, are much improved. More than half of those polled by The New York Times/Siena College said the current economic conditions are poor. That’s a threat to the Democrats, especially to Biden.”
Moskowitz responded, “It is. We can’t tell people the economy is good or things are getting better, if they don’t feel it. If — go to the grocery store, food’s more expensive, gas is more expensive than they remember, and even while it’s coming down. And so, these are things that are affecting people’s lives. Rent is more expensive. Doing anything right now is more expensive because of inflation. This is still the period outside of COVID, when we saw things just skyrocket. They went up super quick, and they’re coming down much slower. And we’ve got to explain to people all the things that President Biden has done to help that along. But, yeah, no, people still don’t necessarily feel it. There’s no doubt about that. We’ve got to talk to them.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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