Democratic strategist says blaming voters, Comey for election loss misses the point

Record ID: 78688

  • Title: Democratic strategist says blaming voters, Comey for election loss misses the point
  • Date: 16th November 2016
  • Summary: MIDDLETOWN, OHIO, UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 25, 2016) (REUTERS) VACANCY SIGN IN STORE FRONT MAN WALKING BY CLOSED MOVIE THEATER AND ABANDONED SHOP BOARDED UP STOREFRONT
  • Embargoed: 1st December 2016 15:27
  • Keywords: Democrat election Donald Trump Hillary Clinton USA
  • Location: WASHINGTON D.C.; DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA; AND YOUNGSTOWN AND MIDDLETOWN OHIO; LAS VEGAS,NEVADA; LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA; HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORKUNITED STATES; VALLETTA, MALTA ;
  • City: WASHINGTON D.C.; DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA; AND YOUNGSTOWN AND MIDDLETOWN OHIO; LAS VEGAS,NEVADA; LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA; HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORKUNITED STATES; VALLETTA, MALTA ;
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
  • Reuters ID: LVA00458PNE4N
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: How did Democrats get it so wrong? -- this is the question many in the party are asking just days after political newcomer Donald Trump's surprise win in the U.S. presidential election.
    Chris Kofinis, CEO of Park Street Strategies is urging Democrats to look inward and stop blaming the voters and FBI director James Comey for Hillary Clinton's stunning defeat.
    Kofinis takes particular issue with what he describes as an attitude of disdain by some Democrats who have lamented that voters were drawn in by some of the more divisive and racially charged messages of the Trump campaign.
    "There are 60 million people that voted for him. I have a hard time believing that these people - the ones that made the difference here - which voted for Obama twice, all of them became racist after they voted for the first black president twice," Kofinis said.
    "It's an easy, cheap excuse that helps avoid more difficult discussions about what the campaign did wrong," Kofinis said. "If all I do is blame the voters, it seems I don't need to change anything. It's their fault."
    While President-elect Donald Trump made a series of remarks about women and minorities that many saw as offensive, they were drowned out by one of the most consistent themes of his campaign -- creating jobs, said Kofinis.
    "Your jobs will come back under a Trump administration, so many have left. Your incomes will go up under a Trump administration. Your taxes will go way down," Trump said at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina -- and at numerous stops throughout the campaign.
    "We didn't understand the degree of economic pain and suffering they were feeling," Kofinis said of the Clinton campaign.
    Trump's campaign slogan "Make America great again" painted a clearer and more positive vision than Clinton's slogan "Stronger Together," according to Kofinis.
    The irony for many in the party is that it was Democratic strategist James Carville who famously said, "It's the economy, stupid" while discussing the focus of former U.S. president Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign.
    Kofinis said economic concerns dominated most of the focus groups he conducted about the election and while Trump delivered lackluster performances in the three presidential debates, his opening remarks about the economy in the first debate earned him some of the highest ratings from a range of viewers in a focus group organized by Park Street Strategies.
    Focus group were each given a dial that they could turn up or down depending on their level of approval for the candidate's comments.
    Trump's pledge to "be a job creator like we haven't seen since Ronald Reagan" received scores of between 70 and 78 from men and women. Clinton's remarks about forcing the wealthy to "pay their fair share" and paid family leave scored high with women but received consistently lower scores from men.
    Trump received one of his highest scores when he attacked Clinton about the economy -- 82 percent approval, a point that some might say points to another issue that previous presidential candidates have not faced -- gender and conscious or unconscious sexism.
    Trump received more votes from men than Clinton by 13 to 14 percent, a massive gap, double the averages seen between Republicans and Democrats in previous elections.
    Possible discomfort by some male voters with Clinton's candidacy isn't the only unique issue that may have factored into the race. The 2016 presidential race also saw the rise of outside candidates, businessman and reality television host Trump on the Republican side and the non-affiliated, self-declared socialist Bernie Sanders on the Democrat's side.
    Clinton, a fixture on the national stage for nearly a century, faced an electorate weary of establishment politics. While Trump's controversial comments about different minorities, women, a disabled reporter and the family of a veteran rubbed many including some in his own party the wrong way, they also underscored his outsider status, a fact that Kofinis ultimately served him.
    "We've had 16 years of Republican and Democratic philosophies and finally people said, you know what ---we're going with the outsider who, we may not like what he says and we find a lot of it offensive, but maybe if he blows things up in terms of how Washington works, maybe things will get better," Kofinis said.
    Washington's countless examples of gridlock, particularly the 2013 government shutdown were fresh on the minds of many American voters. The 15-day-shutdown was spearheaded by Tea Party Republicans who would not approve funding for the next fiscal year unless it included provisions dismantling the President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act.
    Compounding that frustration with government and institutions was growing awareness in the U.S. of disparities in treatment of minorities by police.
    The climate was ripe for someone who seemed intent on disrupting the status quo in Washington, said Kofini.
    Kofinis also believes the Clinton campaign made a mistake of "biblical proportions" with their handling of the FBI's second investigation.
    "Had they simply just said 'No problem? We trust FBI director Comey because we trusted him three months ago when he closed the investigation. If he feels this is appropriate, we have no problem. We trust him to do the right thing.' it would have been the end of the story." Kofinis said.
    By questioning Comey's motives, Kofinis believes that Clinton inadvertently compounded that sense of distrust for institutions and the establishment.
    Other strategists maintain the Clinton campaign's remarks actually forced the FBI to close the investigation before the election and could prevented more losses at the polls.
    Either way, Democrats will have plenty of time to consider their missteps over the next few years as Republicans hold both bodies of Congress and the White House.
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