Today, as Kamala Harris rolls out her economic platform, it will reflect economic messaging that we’ve communicated to top Harris aides for weeks – and Biden aides for months!

Below is a private memo to the Harris campaign we made public today. Our economic polling with Data for Progress informed our #1 recommendation: “Groceries, groceries, groceries.” We were therefore delighted by this headline, showing they are listening.

POLITICO: Grocery price gouging to feature prominently in Harris economic plan

You can read our full memo below.

If you agree Democrats need a strong economic message, and if you want us to keep polling and giving the Harris campaign cutting-edge advice (that they take!), can you make a weekly donation to our work to WIN BIG in 2024?

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MEMO

6 recommendations for VP Harris’s Friday economic speech

We expect the Vice President’s speech to show continuity with the bold, popular Biden-Harris economic agenda – with her own unique vibe and points of emphasis.

Below are a few recommendations on language we’ve discussed with you, based on our weekly polling with Data For Progress. We have also included a recommendation on where to differentiate the Vice President’s voice while building upon the storytelling around the Biden-Harris agenda.

In summary, our recommendations are:

Groceries, groceries, groceries! It’s the number one pain point to acknowledge. Republicans talked groceries repeatedly at their convention to blur the lines after. Democrats spent the last four years working to lower grocery prices.
Vibes, vibes, vibes. Voters are looking for a feeling, not wonky macro numbers. Every policy goal is a supporting detail in the "Whose side are you on?" contrast.
Tie together examples of corporate price gouging under one big roof: "Democrats are cracking down on corporations that price gouge families on everything from groceries to gas to credit card fees to prescription drugs."
Continue Biden’s message merging Social Security and taxes as one: "Republicans want to cut Social Security in order to give tax cuts to billionaires. Democrats will protect and strengthen Social Security by making billionaires pay their fair share."
Best poll-tested message on the care economy: "We need to make caring for our families more affordable…We must fight to ensure families aren’t crunched on both sides with the high costs of raising a child and caring for an aging parent at the same time."
Ways to bring out Harris’s unique voice while building on the Biden-Harris agenda:

Harris is a prosecutor who will crack down on illegal price gouging in order to help families and small businesses.
As a leader on the care economy, Harris is uniquely suited to merge care and price gouging into one message: "Our administration will make caring for our families more affordable. We’ll stop corporations that price gouge families on everything from groceries to gas to prescriptions -- and we’ll ensure families aren’t crunched on both sides with the high costs of raising a child and caring for an aging parent at the same time."

That’s the TL;DR. Below are backup details:

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Recommendation 1: Groceries, groceries, groceries

Here is video of Republicans hitting groceries over and over at their convention, clearly seeing similar data to ours with Data For Progress:

When given 25 potential pain points in their lives, grocery prices are by far the top concern for American families. Voters will be eager to hear Harris acknowledge their concern as part of her economic diagnosis:

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Recommendation 2: Strong siding-with-family vibes, not boring macro weeds.

Here’s the full list of what voters actually care about. Pain points in family budgets are consistently top of the list:

One way to avoid the trap of going wonky with this week’s low inflation rates is to point out that "Even with new indicators of slowing inflation, some corporations are still price gouging consumers on everything from groceries to gas to credit card fees to prescription prices."

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Recommendation 3: One umbrella narrative on corporate price gouging

"Democrats are cracking down on corporations that price gouge families on everything from groceries to gas to credit card fees to prescription drugs. Republican politicians are fighting for corporations that jack up prices and hurt workers – and they will give tax cuts to billionaires."

This simple narrative, tying together many issues, moves the horserace 8 points towards Kamala Harris. This message also moves the congressional horse race 8 points towards a generic Democrat:

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Recommendation 4: Merge Social Security and taxes as one issue.

Vice President Harris should continue President Biden’s innovation of connecting Social Security and taxes as one issue. Republicans have made inroads on public opinion by lying about their plans to cut Social Security. But they are unwilling to come out in favor of taxing billionaires, making this framing a stronger contrast.

Biden in Goffstown, NH (3/11/24): "Republicans will cut Social Security and Medicare to give us more tax cuts for the wealthy… Instead of cutting Medicare and giving tax breaks to the wealthy, I will protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare and make the wealthy begin to pay their fair share."

Biden in Milwaukee, WI (3/13/24): "Instead of cutting Social Security and Medicare to give tax breaks to the super wealthy, I’m going to protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare to make the wealthy begin pay their fair share."

Biden in Scranton, PA (4/16/24): "But, folks, how does Trump pay for these billionaire tax cuts? Well, Trump recently said Social Security and Medicare, quote — here’s his quote: “There’s a lot you can do in terms of cutting,” end of quote....Let’s protect Social Security and Medicare and make the very wealthy begin to pay their fair share — (applause) — in high taxes.”

Bonus -- the new DNC platform says: "We’ll strengthen the program and expand benefits by asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share."

This message can also be integrated into our contrast with Project 2025: "Donald Trump's Project 2025 is part of a plan to weaken the middle class by cutting Social Security in order to give tax breaks to billionaires — while Kamala Harris wants to build up the middle class, protect and strengthen Social Security, and make billionaires pay their fair share."

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Recommendation 5: Winning language on care economy

After many rounds of testing, the top winning language when describing the goal of the care agenda is: "We need to make caring for our families more affordable."

When elaborating, this message wins: "We must fight to ensure families aren’t crunched on both sides with the high costs of raising a child and caring for an aging parent at the same time." This beats child care and elder care in isolation, and paints a more cohesive vision.

We did a 3-way test on the cost of raising a child vs. elder care vs. sandwich generation crunched by both. Here are the "strongly agree"numbers:

Crunch:	Topline: 52%,	Ind: 48%,	30-44: 55%,	45+: 51%
Elder care:	Topline: 49%,	Ind: 36%,	30-44: 48%,	45+: 50%
Raising a child:	Topline: 40%,	Ind: 38%,	30-44: 43%,	45+: 41%

We tested many broad topline ways of describing the care agenda. The top two were offered by Ai-jen Poo and the Domestic Workers. Data here:

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Recommendation 6: Harris’s unique voice

In numerous recent speeches, Vice President Harris said, “I will take on big corporations that engage in illegal price gouging.” Harris has a unique opportunity to merge her prosecutorial background with a corporate accountability theme in a way that reflects her background and experience.

It is well known that Harris believes deeply in the care economy. Pulling together some of the above points, she is uniquely suited to merge care and price gouging: “Our administration will make caring for our families more affordable by stopping corporations from price gouging families on everything from groceries to gas to prescriptions -- and by ensuring families aren’t crunched on both sides with the high costs of raising a child and caring for an aging parent at the same time.”

We are excited to see Friday’s speech. Thanks for all your hard work.

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Thanks for being a bold progressive, and thanks for supporting this important work.

-- The PCCC Team

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