Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday morning that the Democrats’ key to success in 2016 is to “embrace” the very same government that a majority of Americans utterly loathe.
Schumer was speaking at a National Press Club event “focusing on what went wrong for Democrats in the 2014 elections,” apparently forgetting that what went wrong for Democrats in the 2014 elections was the unpopularity of the Obama administration and its government programs.
“[W]hen economic conditions are declining for the middle class, the electorate instinctively turns to Democrats,” Schumer said. “But in order to win in 2016, Democrats must embrace government, not run away from it.”
According to a Quinnipiac poll released Tuesday, two-thirds of Americans rate the economy as “not so good” or “poor.” Yet Republicans captured the Senate and increased their majority in the House this month — outcomes that the electorate of which Schumer speaks strongly approves. By a 51 to 37 percent spread, respondents to the survey said it was “good” that the GOP had secured a Senate majority.
Schumer’s words match the Democrats’ far more important action of late — particularly the executive kind, with President Obama unilaterally ordering immigration reform, a decision that has split the country. Additionally, Senate Democrats have elevated Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a political hero of the party’s progressive wing, to a leadership position.
According to a spring poll conducted by the Harvard Institute of Politics, only 31 percent of young adults aged 18 to 34 trust the federal government overall.
