On Monday, CNN’s Van Jones said that Democrats picked a losing strategy heading into the midterm elections after they decided to focus their attention on “threats to democracy.” Meanwhile, other issues relating to the U.S. economy are at the forefront of the voters’ minds and are not being addressed by the Democratic candidates.

Jones appeared on CNN Newsroom, where he was asked about the Democrats’ focus on democracy threats, despite economic issues being the most important issue among voters. While maintaining that there is indeed a threat to democracy, Jones said that Democratic candidates missed the mark by not addressing the economic issues America is facing right now.

CNN political commentator Van Jones

Jones, a former Obama Administration official, said, “Well, listen, a lot of the actual campaigns on the ground were focusing on the economy, but you’re correct, I think there was this kind of fool’s gold, this idea that the threat to democracy is so severe in the wake of this insurrection and wake of these election deniers possibly grabbing control of the government, that that was something that you had to talk about.”

“But you also have to talk about the economy,” he continued. “I think the tragedy here is that the Democrats have something to say on the economy.”

The political commentator added that the Democrats “didn’t focus enough firepower on that issue,” which will likely cost them in the midterms.

On the same segment, CNN’s Jim Sciutto asked Charlie Dent, the Executive Director of THe Aspen Institute Congressional Program, about the issue of abortion, another topic that the Democrats have relied on, but has not garnered as much support for their candidates as they might have hoped.

“Are you surprised that it is not, at least as the polls are capturing now, top-of-mind, or more top-of-mind than you might have expected?” asked Sciutto.

“I always thought that the abortion issue might mitigate some Democratic losses in this election cycle, but as time has passed since the Dobbs decision, I think what’s happened is that many voters realized that abortion is still legal in most states,” Dent replied.

Recent polls have revealed that 93% of voters are concerned with inflation, yet the Democratic party has not focused much attention on this. Some left-wing figures have even tried to suggest that inflation is an issue manufactured by the GOP, although inflation is at a 40-year-high.

Last week, Joe Biden delivered a speech that was meant to promote the Democratic candidates as the midterms approached. He focused his remarks solely on the threat that MAGA Republicans pose to our democracy and rattled on about Donald Trump, prompting significant backlash from his own party.

Before Biden’s speech, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also accused MAGA Republicans of threatening our democracy with violence and a disregard for the rule of law.

Meanwhile, the voters want to hear an economic message from their party’s leaders, and the Democrats are failing to do so.

 

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