Republican pollster Ed Goeas said on Monday that President Trump, in part, likely did not choose to campaign on the economy because a majority of Americans approved of the direction it was going in under his administration.
“When you look at how a majority of Americans actually approve of the president on the economy, on jobs, on taxes, there is that [economic] component that is there,” Goeas, president and CEO of the Tarrance Group, told Hill.TV’s Joe Concha on “What America’s Thinking.”
“I think it’s part of the reason why the White House felt they didn’t need to campaign on the economy,” he continued.
“I don’t know that that was the right decision,” he added. “Certainly for a lot of the suburban districts we did not do well congressionally.”
“It certainly was a major part of all the statewide campaigns, whether it was gubernatorial or Senate campaigns that the economy was a major component part of the vote,” he said.
Polling shows that voters approve of Trump’s handling of the economy.
A Gallup poll released last month in the weeks after the midterms found that 53 percent of Americans approved of the president’s handling of the economy, which is up from 50 percent in August.
However, Trump largely chose to focus on the issue of immigration as a means of firing up his base, specifically highlighting the so-called migrant caravan from Central America.
Politico reported last month that Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) had called Trump to ask him to focus on the economy in his final midterm campaign message.
— Julia Manchester
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