Republican presidential candidates are hoping to tap into fears and financial insecurities in Middle Class Americans as the economy continues to improve under President Obama.
Republican candidates are targeting lingering concerns about the recovering economy seven years after it collapsed and led to the Great Recession — a tough sell, but one the GOP will have to find a way to hammer home with voters.
As the economy recovers and the jobless rate declines, the Republican Party will have to position itself as a solution to a problem that many voters don’t really recognize, and Republicans will attempt to hone their economic message in a way that will convince voters that there are still things to be worried about with this economy, according to a Reuters report.
Four years ago, Mitt Romney failed to beat the image that he was the candidate for wealthy Americans at a time when the economy was still deeply embroiled in the recession. At that time, Romney was able to hit President Barack Obama over an 8 percent unemployment rate.
But that figure has tumbled since then to 5.5 percent, and 18 candidates who gathered this weekend in New Hampshire were figuring out new ways to dredge up fears about the economy as they seek to strike a chord with Americans.
Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida and brother to the last Republican president George W. Bush, said that simply slamming Obama over his economic policies would be a losing strategy. Instead, Bush wanted to focus on solidifying the economy’s foundation, arguing that Americans are still feeling some insecurity about their finances, and that economic growth needs to reach a point when people no longer fear that they are close to the end, and that their children will have opportunities.
There are some things to criticize that Republicans will no doubt latch on to: even though the unemployment rate is dropping, the pay isn’t increasing at the same rate, indicating a lack of full-time jobs, and also showing that many of the new jobs are of lower quality.
There’s also questions about the pace of the economic growth, with Bush arguing that he would like to see 4 percent growth in the economy compared to the 2.4 percent it actually grew last year.
