How Democrats Can Sell Bad Economy to Voters, According to DC Advertising Pros

As inflation soars to a four-decade high ahead of the midterm elections, Democrats find themselves in a tricky position: How do they trumpet their economic track record without coming off as insensitive to the pain voters are feeling as rising prices devour bigger and bigger chunks of their paychecks? 

The political party controlling the White House almost always suffers losses in midterm elections. But this year’s headwinds are unusually strong. Soaring inflation and ongoing shortages of consumer goods, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, will make November’s elections especially precarious for vulnerable Democrats in Congress. Though employment remains relatively strong — unemployment is less than 4%, and the economy has grown by more than 6 million jobs under President Joe Biden — the president’s approval rating has cratered to 40%, his lowest yet, and 71% of Americans in a recent poll said the country is on the wrong track.

So what should Democrats do? Tackle inflation head-on? Sidestep the economy altogether? Those are some of the questions I asked five political-advertising pros with decades of combined experience producing everything from traditional TV ads to viral Twitter campaigns.

Some urged candidates to localize Biden’s accomplishments by pointing to specific projects breaking ground under the $1 trillion infrastructure package he championed. Others advocated empathy, pushing candidates to acknowledge the hardships voters are facing. All agreed that Democrats face choppy waters ahead.

“If the unemployment rate is up, that adversely affects a few percent of people,” Jimmy Siegel, who was an ad-maker for Michael Bloomberg’s 2020 presidential campaign, told me. “But inflation affects everybody. It has an outsized influence on people’s perception of the economy. If they’re paying so much, it feels like they’re making less, and it feels like the economy’s not doing well. So it’s definitely a major problem.”

Steer into inflation

Jimmy Siegel is a partner of Siegel Strategies, a political ad and branding agency. Before he switched to political advertising 15 years ago, he worked on campaigns for Visa, Pepsi, Schwab, and E-Trade.

I would pitch anything you could do to help inflation, whether that’s slashing the federal gas tax or whatever other things one could advocate. Recognize that people are suffering, instead of just touting the things that Joe Biden has done. Show some empathy: We know you’re hurting, and here’s what we’re going to do about it.

By later this year some of the infrastructure stuff will be real. In your districts they’re building roads or repairing bridges, and people have gotten hired. There’s construction. There are actual jobs on the ground due to something that the Democratic Congress passed. That’s something to talk about.

Focus on bridges and hospitals

Martha McKenna is the founder of McKenna Media. She has worked for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee under Sen. Chuck Schumer and produced ads for Pete Buttigieg.

We have a positive story to tell about jobs numbers and wages. We are also going to be able to run really local campaigns about things that have been delivered through the infrastructure bill, the American Rescue Plan, and earmarks.

I could see us having an ad about a new imaging machine for a local hospital that needed it, or a cancer center. These things are coming out right now in press releases and the occasional news story. But to show them in a 30-second ad? Democrats came up with a solution, and here’s how it’s impacting people’s lives. That’s a powerful message.

On the other side of the coin, Republicans need to be held responsible for a plan coming out of the Senate that wants to raise taxes on nearly half of Americans. And then they’re going to vote against the budget, because they don’t want to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires. I think we have a lot of good news.

Break barriers with empathy

Erick Sanchez, the founder of United Public Affairs, created “37 Seconds,” this year’s most iconic political ad. The spot, which features the US Senate candidate Gary Chambers smoking a blunt as he speaks about the injustice of nonviolent marijuana arrests, has 6.8 million views on YouTube.

Don’t read the polls. Read the room. Average Americans are feeling the brunt of it all. We have a workforce on the brink of exhaustion. In today’s world, every ad should be one of three things: It should either be entertaining, thought-provoking, or empathetic. In this economy, the ad you want to do is one that focuses directly on the anxiety of the country.

Obviously, I wouldn’t suggest that as a Democrat you turn your back on the Biden administration. But at the same time, it’s important to remember what the pandemic meant to you as a candidate, whether you’re a parent, whether you’re a teacher or in any part of the workforce, and what your family went through. If there was ever a time to consider stigma breaking, now is the time to do it. For example: If you’re a candidate, and you are seeing a therapist, say so.

I don’t think every candidate needs to go out in a field and smoke weed or go out by a barn and burn a Confederate flag. But at the very least what they can do is understand the plight that their friends, their families, their neighbors have been through and allow themselves to speak about it a little bit. We’re dealing with an electorate that is either burned out, upset, or angry at the current situation.

Here’s an ad concept intended help a candidate to reframe the economic conversation around empathy and connection: 

 [A candidate opens a bag of chips, starts eating them]

Candidate voiceover: It was recently reported that some bags of chips would have five fewer chips in them. The media is calling it “shrinkflation.”

Gas prices are on the rise. Our favorite businesses are either closed or feel closed. 

Our workforce is struggling to recover fully, and it feels like your government isn’t working for you but the other way around.

I get it. You’re angry. You’re anxious. You’re upset. I am too.

But let’s remember the last few years and how we made it through. 

It took resilience, patience, and an understanding that we all do better when working together. 

Our work is far from done, and our limits will continue to be tested, but I can promise you in office that your priorities are mine, and we will heal our communities. 

In the meantime, let’s try and filter out the junk. It’s not good for us anyway. 

[Candidate crinkles bag, throws it in trash can]

Pivot to outsourcing

Raghu Devaguptapu is a partner with Left Hook, an agency that works exclusively for Democrats. Left Hook launched the US Senate candidate Tim Ryan’s campaign with an ad focused on economic competitiveness with China.

There are a lot of good things that are happening with the economy. But that’s not where voters are. There are a lot of supply-chain issues and inflation issues. The vicious circle here is that we’ve lost a lot of jobs around the country due to automation and outsourcing. And part of the reason why we have supply-chain issues and why our costs are high is because we don’t make things here anymore.

A lot of Republican incumbents are responsible for that. These guys were once a bunch of free traders, and their policies have continued to move jobs out of here. Sen. Ron Johnson in Wisconsin is a really good example with truck-building jobs — he basically said, “We don’t need these jobs here.”

We need to lean into economic relatability. Republicans don’t actually relate economically to their voters. The message should be: We need to take back our economy. We need to build things here. We need to create more jobs here. Re-create the social contract with communities. Businesses and workers have to work together. That’s the direction we have to go.

Blame the billionaires

Teddy Goff is a cofounder and partner at Precision, a strategy and marketing agency. He served as the digital director for Obama’s reelection campaign. His clients include Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado.

Democrats, historically, are way too shy about promoting ourselves and marketing the successes we’ve had….