The right and wrong way to talk about inflation

Last year, we watched hundreds of people storm the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election. We saw gallows erected on the grounds of Congress, and we saw Trump flags hoisted in the Senate chamber. For some of us, it had already become a regular occurrence to call our friends in D.C. and make sure they were safe. But January 6 was different. That day, none of us felt safe wherever we were. And that day, we were collectively faced with a truth we’d spent months refusing to address: Our democracy is in danger.

One year later, we’re still struggling to name the long-term effects of the insurrection. But here’s what we do know. We polled likely voters in Georgia and in four battleground districts represented by House members who voted to overturn the election — and we find that voters believe in the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s win. They are concerned that the people who sided with insurrectionists may yet end up keeping, or holding, elected office. And above all, they are concerned for the future of our democracy.

That matters. As these Republicans either seek re-election or run for another public office, democracy itself — the right to a free, fair, and open election — is at risk. It matters that voters are aware of the threat these people pose, because it gives us the path we need to fight back.

Read the full polling analysis here.

Here are some other highlights from DFP over the past week:

Democrats Need a Strong Message on Inflation

Right now, likely voters see inflation as the biggest economic problem facing the country. It’s a win for Republicans and the business lobby, who have spent the last year gleefully attacking Democrats over inflation while literally profiting from it. And it further challenges Democrats in advance of the 2022 midterm elections, as voters currently trust the Republican Party more than the Democratic Party when it comes to addressing inflation.

But Democrats have an opportunity to shift the narrative. New Data for Progress polling finds that messaging around the economic policy solutions Democrats have introduced to combat inflation, as well as directly attacking corporations over their increased profit margins in the midst of the perceived economic crisis, is highly effective.

Here’s a list of our top performing messages:

President Biden says that we need to bring back manufacturing jobs in the United States to drive down prices. Our supply chains need to be housed here at home, rather than outsourced abroad.
President Biden and Republicans passed a bipartisan deal to invest in America's infrastructure. Biden says this will strengthen our supply chains, helping goods get to market, and lowering costs for consumers.
President Biden says corporations are recording record profits while Americans are paying higher prices. He says we need a fairer economy where workers and consumers, not CEOs and shareholders, come out ahead.

Read the full analysis here.

Voters: Amazon Must Be Held Accountable for Worker Deaths

Last month, a series of tornadoes touched down across the South and Midwest over the course of a single night, killing dozens of people. Among those deaths were six Amazon workers and eight workers in a candle factory; both employers told their workers they’d be fired for evacuating to safety.

Our latest polling finds that voters strongly believe these companies should be held responsible for these deaths and their egregious labor violations — and that these companies should be held responsible whenever their workers die in the workplace due to a natural disaster.

Read the full analysis here — and then donate to the relief efforts for these communities.

New Year, Same Story: Build Back Better is Popular

For the past two months (and honestly, well before that), we’ve consistently found that Build Back Better is popular legislation: On average, it polls at 62 percent support, and has never dipped below 60 percent the entire time we’ve done polling on the bill.

Surprise, surprise: The bill still holds commanding support among voters. Voters support the bill’s pay-for plans to tax the wealthy and corporations, and every single provision in the bill holds at least a +10-point margin of support. It’s why it’s consistently frustrating to see such popular legislation continue to falter in the Senate — especially considering that midterm elections are at stake here.

For a full analysis of our most up-to-date BBB numbers, click here.

Can Texas Flip Blue? You Beto Believe It

Texas’s elections are shaping up to be fairly exciting: Beyond some cool House races, incumbent governor and Claude Frollo’s evil twin Greg Abbott is facing off against Beto O’Rourke, That Guy In College Who Broke Up With You So He Could “Figure Himself Out” But Then You Caught Him on Tinder Like, Three Days Later.

Data for Progress partnered with NextGen America to poll young Texans in advance of this election and found that, in a hypothetical matchup, O’Rourke leads with young voters by +17 points.

This is a wide lead, but it’s quickly tempered by the fact that young Texan Republicans are far more enthusiastic about voting than young Texan Democrats. That being said, issues like ensuring abortion access and increasing the minimum wage are top issues for young Texan voters, and O’Rourke is on the right side of these issues. Texas Democrats just need to figure out a way to drive up Democratic enthusiasm and close that gap.

For the full analysis, click here.