President Joe Biden and the Democratic-controlled Congress delivered plenty of legislative wins for the party faithful ahead of the midterm elections. Now, their challenge is to choose how to sell a wide range of new policies to voters.
Between an infrastructure bill, a bill aimed at boosting computer chip manufacturing, the Inflation Reduction Act that’s also being touted as a climate change bill, and Biden’s student loan transfer and cancer initiative, there’s a lot to talk about and a risk of causing confusion in the minds of voters.
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“Last year, I signed into law a once-in-a-generation investment in our nation’s roads, highways, bridges, railroads, ports, airports, water systems, high-speed internet,” Biden said during an appearance at Boston’s Logan International Airport on Monday. “It’s called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and it’s the most significant investment since President Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System.”
Biden’s speech, made before a backdrop of scissor lifts and other industrial equipment, mostly promoted the infrastructure bill and the union jobs it would fund. But the president also mentioned the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the cancer moonshot during the speech.
Later the same day, Biden made another speech, this one focused on the cancer initiative, and on Tuesday, he’ll host a celebration for the wide-ranging Inflation Reduction Act, which will reportedly focus mostly on the climate change aspects of the bill.
How can voters keep it all straight? Democratic strategist Brad Bannon said Biden needs to keep the overarching goal behind all the various initiatives top of mind and top of message.
“The important thing is to focus on a clear, concise message,” Bannon said. “The best message for the president and Democrats is that Joe Biden and the party have moved the country forward, while the GOP has tried to pull it back in time. Once you have that basic message, you can illustrate it with lots of different messages.”
Issues aren’t messages, Bannon argues, but should be used to illustrate the central theme.
Still, there’s plenty to choose from. Based on polling that shows caps on prescription drug prices are the most popular aspect of the Inflation Reduction Act, Bannon feels that’s an aspect Democrats need to go big on while on the trail and in campaign advertisements.
Biden appears at times to tailor his message based on whom he’s speaking to. For example, the president didn’t mention his unilateral student debt transfer, which could cost between $500 billion and $1 trillion, during his Boston airport speech or in appearances in the relatively working-class cities of Pittsburgh and Milwaukee. But he did talk about it while speaking in highly educated Maryland.
Republicans have noted the discrepancy and called it out.
“Joe Biden bailed out wealthy college grads yet is shy to mention it,” Republican National Committee spokesman Will O’Grady told the Washington Examiner. “Could it be because his bailout is extremely unpopular and out of touch? Or is it because it is unfair to those who chose a different route or paid off their loans already? Or because it further fuels already rampant inflation?”
“Regardless, this ‘win’ reveals who Joe Biden really is: an out-of-touch career politician who couldn’t care less about hardworking Americans,” O’Grady added.
But tailoring a message to the local audience is a perfectly natural and normal thing for a politician to do, argues Colby College visiting politics instructor Sandy Maisel.
“They sell things differently in different parts of the country,” he said. “You don’t sell regulations to curb climate change in places like the South or West Virginia. But it does seem to me that the fruits of the infrastructure package are just beginning to bear fruit now, and they should be emphasizing that.”
Biden mentioned how the infrastructure bill will benefit the Boston airport during his stop there, saying it would create 5,900 jobs via a $62 million total investment that would help it ferry passengers more efficiently and boost the local economy.
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With huge majorities of the public still saying that the United States is on the wrong track, Biden has also sought to contrast himself with Donald Trump and “MAGA Republicans” who he says pose a threat to the country. While such a message risks turning off some voters, Maisel says the key will be convincing the right people to turn out later this fall.
“It seems to me that the midterms will be very much like the 2020 election in that it will be determined by people in the suburbs,” he said. “It’s a smart geographic strategy.”
