The Daily 202: New coalition aims to improve Democratic messaging against Trump

By James Hohmann April 18 at 8:44 AM

THE BIG IDEA:

Many Democratic talking heads make weak arguments on television that fail to move voters. To address this, several groups and top pollsters on the left are teaming up to launch a new project that will conduct surveys and convene focus groups to produce monthly guidance with the most politically potent lines of attack against President Trump and congressional Republicans.

This new initiative, which has not been previously reported, will be called Navigator Research. The debut report, shared first with The Daily 202, offers original polling and talking points related to the economy, political corruption and disruption.

It flows from fears among progressive thought leaders that their side focuses too much on the ups and downs of public polls related to the generic ballot and Trump’s approval rating, rather than messaging and framing.

“There is a dearth of direction as it relates to how to talk about things,” said Jefrey Pollock, the president of Global Strategy Group. “When the news cycle is the length of the tweet, that challenge is more acute than ever. … For years, Republican politicians have been better at paying attention to language cues. We're trying to do a progressive version of that.”

Pollock is one of the three lead pollsters on the project, along with his business partner Nick Gourevitch and Margie Omero from GBA Strategies. Alumni of the Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders campaigns are also involved.

-- The advisory council overseeing the research includes representatives from several of the left’s most powerful groups, including AFL-CIO political director Mike Podhorzer, the Center for American Progress Action Fund’s Navin Nayak, Emily’s List’s Christina Reynolds, the Latino Victory Project’s Stephanie Valencia and the Roosevelt Institute’s Felicia Wong. Also on the board are Arkadi Gerney from The Hub Project, Delvone Michael from Working Families and Ron Klain, who was chief of staff to the last two Democratic vice presidents but is best known for his roles as Barack Obama’s Ebola czar and Al Gore’s lawyer during the Florida recount.

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