As a firm with several Oklahomans it’s probably not surprising that we’re JC Watts fans here at WPA. But, his column this morning in the Las Vegas Review-Journal gives us another reason to like him, he understands how we can win on the economy.
From Congressman Watts’ column:
Ironically, the institutions that government said were too big to fail are in turn saying that small business is too small to fool with. Republicans should be defending their natural allies in small business.
One of the psychographic characteristics we assess whenever we look at the electorate in a race is their orientation either towards individualism or institutionalism. In our recent polling, we’ve seen incredibly strong anti-institution sentiment–particularly among Independent voters and swing voters.
What this means for Republican candidates is that talking economics by referencing ”wall street”, “markets”, or even “the economy” are bad ideas–they all evoke big-business institutionalism. Instead, focus your language on “small businesses”, “entrepreneurs”, and “jobs” while tying the Democrats to “government hand-outs for big corporations” and “bank bailouts”. This creates a strong individual v. institution framing that will resonate powerfully with where voters are right now.
