With less than seven weeks until Election Day, we’re in the midterms’ final phase.
Absentee ballots are already being mailed, while four states begin early in-person voting in less than a week and nine more within the next month. It’s time for each party to put down big bets on what in these last days could bring victory.
But neither side seems to have much of an instinct for it this election season.
Democrats appear to believe it’s sufficient simply to blame President Trump for the economy and offer hazy promises to do something about housing, grocery, healthcare and gasoline prices. No need to explain what Democrats would do, how it would work or what it would cost. Just trash Mr. Trump and chant “affordability.”
True, voters don’t trust the GOP on economics. But many don’t trust the Democrats either. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released in August found 37% of Americans felt Democrats had “a better plan, policy or approach to the U.S. economy,” while 36% said the Republicans did.
Democrats fared better on inflation — at least compared with the GOP. Another recent Reuters/Ipsos poll found 36% favored the Democratic approach, only 28% the Republican. Still, that leaves big chunks of the e...