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A4 | Tuesday,
The WallOctober
Street 20, 2020 - 10/20/2020
Journal
‘It’s the Economy, Stupid’: No, Not This Time
CAPITAL JOURNAL
By Gerald F. Seib
It has been 28 years since
adviser James Carville
helped propel Bill Clinton to
the presidency by posting a
sign in campaign headquar-
ters remind-
ing everyone
there: “It’s the
economy, stu-
pid.” That was
his singular
way of drilling
home the message that the
economy mattered more to
voters than anything else.
So far in 2020, though, it
doesn’t seem to be the econ-
omy. Even though voters to-
day prefer President Trump
to handle the economy as
much as ever, he remains be-
hind as the race enters its fi-
MARK WALLHEISER FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Mr. Trump’s strategy has been to boost turnout where he is most popular. Lisa Buchman, in Destin, Fla., is undecided in the election.
Trump Trains Focus on Florida Panhandle
BY MADELEINE NGO
DESTIN, Fla.—While Presi- county, percentage points
dent Trump and Democratic
nominee Joe Biden battle over
senior and Latino voters in
central and South Florida, Re-
publicans say another key for
them will be maximizing sup-
port in the Panhandle, home
to a swath of traditionally red
counties.
Mr. Trump’s re-election
Copyright
strategy (c)2020
nationwide has Dow
em- Jones & Company, Inc. All
phasized boosting turnout in
the places where he is most
nal two weeks. That raises
two questions: Why? And
could the economic issue still
propel him to a final-days
turnaround?
Five times this year, the
Wall Street Journal/NBC
News poll has asked voters
who they think would be bet-
ter at handling the economy,
Mr. Trump or Democrat Joe
Biden. Five times they have
named the president, by mar-
gins ranging from 7 to 11 per-
centage points. Plenty of
Americans, in short, appear to
buy the president’s argument
that the economy was in fine
shape before the coronavirus
n- F
hit, and that it isn’t his fault
it has plunged since then.
M
ore than that, when
the poll asked voters
just last week which
issue is most important to
them, they named the econ-
omy more than any other is-
no
sue, including the coronavi-
rus. All of that simply serves
to frame the mystery of why
that set of conditions isn’t
working better for Mr.
Trump.
Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton
2016 presidential election margin of victory by northern Florida
Florida Panhandle
This copy is for personal, non-commercial use
Contact Dow Jones Reprints & Licensing“The
Map detail
Rights Reserved. 10/20/2020
Trump won Florida
by 1.2 percentage point.
P W L C 10 11 12
on
The answer starts with ev-
idence suggesting the domi-
nance of the economic issue
us l,
may be something of a myth,
e
al a
which has its roots in that
1992 campaign. It simply
ci on
isn’t true that the candidate
or party given better marks
on handling the economy
er s
wins an election, even when
the economy seems to get
m er
top billing. Voters have other
issues propelling them with
m rp
nearly equal force—and
sometimes they view
those as matters that also af-
fect their own everyday
co o
economy.
Bill McInturff, a Republi-
can pollster who co-directs
the Journal/NBC News poll,
notes that the same set of
conditions prevailed in 2018:
Voters said they thought Re-
publicans would do a better
job handling the economy,
yet the party lost 41 seats in
House elections that year. In
some respects—the shift of
suburban women toward the
Democrats, more energized
minority voters, concern
about health care—this year
resembles 2018 more than
MARGIN: +25 +50 +75 pts.
Trump
Clinton
Tallahassee Jacksonville
For commercial reproduction
Gainesville
H T G K R F A M 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 O I X
U.S. NEWS
2016, when Mr. Trump won.
And though it’s little re-
membered now, a similar set
of circumstances prevailed in
2012. Voters called the econ-
omy the most important is-
sue, and more said they pre-
ferred Republican Mitt
Romney to Democratic Presi-
dent Barack Obama on han-
dling it. Yet Mr. Obama won
re-election.
Then, as now, there was a
cluster of other issues that,
when taken together, rivaled
the economy in importance
to voters. This year the coro-
navirus, health care, race re-
lations, climate change and
ability to unite the country
also are pressing and emo-
tional matters for many vot-
ers. On every one, voters
tend to prefer Mr. Biden,
sometimes by wide margins.
More broadly, now as in
2016, the race seems as
much about a struggle over
the nation’s culture as about
economic issues.
Moreover, voters relate
the health of the economy to
the handling of the pan-
demic: If they buy Mr. Bi-
WASHINGTON—The Su-
preme Court on Monday re-
fused to disturb a ruling by
Pennsylvania’s highest court
that extended the battleground
state’s deadline for accepting
mail-in ballots, a win for Demo-
crats that gives voters more
time to navigate postal delays
and avoid in-person voting.
Chief Justice John Roberts
joined the court’s three liberal
members to leave intact a
Pennsylvania Supreme Court
decision extending by three
days the time for receipt of ab-
sentee ballots and allowing
those with illegible postmarks
to be counted if received by
the deadline.
The court’s four more con-
servative justices would have
granted requests by the state
Republican Party and two lead-
polling. The poll was released ing GOP state senators to block
after the Atlantic published al- the state court’s ruling.
legations that Mr. Trump had The high court, down to
called Americans who died in eight members following the
wars “losers” and “suckers.” death last month of Justice
Mr. Trump has denied making Ruth Bader Ginsburg, issued no
the remarks. opinions explaining its reasons.
John Bashara, a 78-year-old When the Supreme Court di-
Air Force
only.veteran
Do not in edit,
Destin,alter
videsorevenly on a case, the
reproduce.
said he doesn’t believe Mr. lower-court decision on appeal
or distribution:
Trump made those comments. remains intact.
at (800)
Atlantic843-0008 or djreprints.com
publishes and Chief Justice Roberts was
they say an unnamed source. joined by Justices Stephen
Well, just take that one to Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and
court,” Mr. Bashara said. Elena Kagan. Justices Clarence
Republicans say Mr. Trump Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gor-
X **** THE WALL Page
.
ly
den’s argument that the
economy can’t improve until
the coronavirus is under bet-
ter control, they actually see
the pandemic as an eco-
nomic issue. That benefits
Mr. Biden.
D
emocratic pollster Pe-
ter Hart, who helps
oversee the Journal/
NBC News poll, says that as
Americans already are stand-
ing in long lines to cast bal-
lots, 2020 is a year in which
voters see the broader
course of the country as the
real issue. “The massive
turnout in 2020 is occurring
because voters understand
the stakes that go far, far be-
yond the two candidates,” he
says. “Hidden behind the
pandemic are the big issues
of race, climate, gender, and
safety.”
Mr. Trump also hasn’t
played his advantage on the
economy particularly well.
He talks about his record of
accomplishment, but doesn’t
lay out many specifics about
what he’d do in a second
term to revive and extend
High Court Lets
Pennsylvania Ease
Vote-Count Rules
BY JESS BRAVIN
AND BRENT KENDALL
STREET JOURNAL.
: A004
economic growth. And his
fabled rallies tend to veer
down side alleys as they did
in Michigan on Sunday,
when the president’s argu-
ment that Michigan Demo-
cratic Gov. Gretchen Whit-
mer needs to do more to
open up the state’s economy
veered into chants from the
crowd of, “Lock her up.” Mr.
Trump echoed “Lock them
all up” just days after the
FBI arrested a group of men
for plotting to kidnap the
governor. That put the em-
phasis on a divisive message
rather than a unifying eco-
nomic one.
Perhaps Mr. Trump will
find better ways in the cam-
paign’s final days to focus
voters on the economy, to his
benefit. Presidential elec-
tions tend to tighten in the
end, as wandering voters re-
turn to home base, as some
new voters stream in and as
candidates manage to frame
the final choice to their ben-
efit. Mr. Trump gets one
more big chance, in Thurs-
day’s debate, to bring the ar-
gument back to the economy.
2016, but recent polls have
shown Democratic presidential
nominee Joe Biden ahead.
Democrats have turned heavily
to absentee ballots in response
to the pandemic, so the exten-
sion could help Mr. Biden if bal-
lots delayed in the mail stream
tilt his way.
Mr. Trump has said he ex-
pects the Supreme Court to
help decide the presidential
election, and pushed to confirm
Judge Amy Coney Barrett, his
nominee to replace Justice
Ginsburg, in time to participate.
Mr. Trump’s two previous ap-
pointees, Justices Gorsuch and
Kavanaugh, voted for the Re-
publican request to cancel the
deadline extension. Judge Bar-
rett, questioned at her confir-
mation hearing last week by
Democratic senators, said she
would consider whether to re-
cuse herself from an election
case involving Mr. Trump
should one arise.
The Pennsylvania Supreme
Court extended the deadline af-
ter the state’s top election offi-
cial, the secretary of state, said
three additional days were
needed to account for delays
due to the coronavirus pan-
demic and the resulting shift to
absentee voting. The state court
likened the move to accommo-
dations ordered when a natural
disaster disrupts an election.
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