The Democrats’ Message Isn’t Resonating

This morning, CNN released a new poll [pdf] that suggests the White House and Democrats have so far failed to make their argument about the radical nature of the Republicans’ budget plan. While a large majority, 68 percent, agree that Republican proposals “unfairly favor some groups more than others,” a bare majority says that the GOP plans do not go “too far.” Here are some of the internals:

Question 14: In your view, do current Republican proposals to cut spending go too far, or not?

	Total	White	Non-White	65+	Under $50k
Too far	47%	38%	67%	41%	47%
Not too far	51%	59%	33%	53%	51%

Question 15: Do Republicans proposals to cut spending apply fairly to all groups in society, or do they unfairly favor some groups more than others?

	Total	White	Non-White	65+	Under $50k
Fair	29%	31%	25%	36%	27%
Unfair	68%	65%	75%	59%	72%

In combining some of the internals, I particularly wanted to look at seniors and poorer people, who have the most to lose in Paul Ryan’s budget. His plan would severely cut Medicaid funding for the poor and would end up requiring seniors to pay far more of their health care expenses.

On the one hand, these numbers show that people understand the unfair impact of Ryan’s budget. But the “too far” question suggests that, even if they understand the unfairness of the plan, they don’t seem to be too bothered by it. I draw two conclusions from this.

First, the Democrats’ message is not reaching the larger public. Ryan’s cuts so obviously favor the rich (slashing upper bracket taxes to the lowest point since 1931) that the plan on its face is unfair. The public doesn’t have to hear that from the left; any straight reporting of the facts of the plan make that clear. The “too far” question makes it clear that the left’s core critique—that the plan is radical—is not getting out to the people, or that the people aren’t buying it.

Second, these numbers emphasize how little the public has heard from Democrats and President Obama on the moral implications of the budget—on the morality of righting our fiscal house solely through the sacrifices of the lower and middle classes. During December’s tax deal, in which Obama extended the tax cuts for the uber-wealthy in exchange for tax cuts for everyone else, the President never framed the issue on what is morally right, except to say that it is wrong to raise taxes. He didn’t talk about the moral bankruptcy of handing out government welfare to those who are doing better than ever, who are richer than the majority of the rest of the nation combined. Nor did he talk about the moral responsibility we owe to those less fortunate, the moral duty of government to provide a robust safety net that protects those whose luck has run. These are not just questions of numbers and budgets and what we can afford; these are questions of the moral purpose of our government, questions that the leader of the Democratic Party, who made himself famous in a speech emphasizing that we are our brother’s keeper, needs to be making.

If Americans recognize that the Republicans' proposals are wildly unfair, but disagree that they go “too far,” that doesn’t point to idiocy or hypocrisy, or even confusion. It points to Obama’s failure to embrace the moral message of government. Let’s hope he starts making that case this afternoon.