Wrong Answer

By a 4-1 margin, Americans want their leaders to focus first on jobs, but Republican presidential candidates like Mitt Romney have the wrong answer and at last night's GOP debate, the words "middle class" weren't even uttered. Romney just released a dishonest ad attacking President Obama on jobs -- never mind that Massachusetts' job growth was ranked 47^th in the nation when Romney was governor, or that Romney earned his fortune by deliberately destroying American businesses and factories and laying off workers

CORE MESSAGE

Americans need more jobs. Washington Republicans answer with more tax breaks for millionaires.

Connect: Americans want their leaders to focus on putting Americans back to work.

Define them: Washington Republicans have no real jobs plan, but they have fought to take away Medicare, protect government handouts to Big Oil, and give millionaires another tax break.

Discredit: These politicians aren't looking out for ordinary Americans. Privatizing Medicare to pay for more tax breaks for the super-rich does nothing to create jobs or strengthen the middle class -- it just rewards their millionaire donors and corporate sponsors.

Core values: Our country can't be prosperous if millions of people are sitting idle in their homes. A strong America is built on a strong middle class - and that means good jobs, growing opportunity, and hope for the future.

ATTACKS & RESPONSES

"Obama described out-of-work Americans as bumps in the road."

• Since taking power, Washington Republicans haven't done anything to put Americans back to work - they voted to eliminate millions of American jobs, end Medicare, and give away trillions in tax cuts to their super-rich donors.
• Never mind that President Obama wasn't talking about out-of-work Americans -- the fact that GOP candidate Mitt Romney would attack the President for a phrase he himself has used in the past shows the lengths he'll go to score cheap political points.

"Tax cuts increase revenue."

• Tax breaks mean less revenue, not more, and they don't create jobs or grow the economy -- the Bush tax cuts led to record budget deficits that we're still dealing with.
• Let's put money into the hands of the real job creators in this country -- working and middle class Americans-and stop giving special tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires who don't need it and don't spend it.

"Obama's policies have grown the government and the deficit, while destroying our economy."

• It doesn't help to pretend to care about jobs and deficits, but then turn around and give massive tax breaks to millionaires, oil companies, and big banks that drive up our deficits -- and do nothing to create good jobs for ordinary Americans.
• The best way to reduce the deficit is to put Americans back to work, and that should be our top priority. We've got a long way to go, but 15 straight months of private sector job growth under the Obama administration is a start. 

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

• By a 4-to-1 margin, voters want leaders to focus on jobs and the economy over long-term budget deficits.
• Even though Americans' top priority is putting the middle class back to work, and in cities across the country like Boise, Albuquerque, and Sacramento, 1 out of every 10 jobs has disappeared, Washington Republicans' "jobs plan" is nothing more than a repackaging of the same failed policies - more tax giveaways for millionaires and corporations.
• The U.S. economy added only 54,000 jobs in May showing that we need urgent action to get the middle class growing again.
• The Bush tax cuts have been the number one driver of our deficits, and making them permanent would nearly double our country's budget deficit -- click here to see what that means for your state.
• Last week Republicans in Congress introduced a bill that would deliberately destroy 300,000 federal jobs, from food safety inspectors to VA nurses to border patrol agents.
• Since the recession hit, Most Americans say the best way to reduce the deficit is to raise taxes on millionaires, and end corporate tax loopholes, and reduce our military commitments overseas, but Republicans won't even put that on the table.
• The Republican plan would:
  • Destroy two million jobs in the next two years;
  • Increase our national debt over the next decade;
  • End Medicare as we know it by creating a voucher system that will double health care costs for seniors;
  • Gut Medicaid - shifting costs to states that are already in financial trouble and eliminating coverage for many Americans, including seniors who live in nursing homes, children and people with disabilities;
  • Make significant cuts to K-12 education, job training, and Pell grants that help kids go to college;
  • Give over $4 trillion in new tax breaks for millionaires and corporate special interests and protect $40 billion in giveaways to Big Oil -- even though corporate profits are at an all-time high and corporations are paying lower taxes than ever before.
  • Take health insurance away from 32 million Americans;
• Republican politicians, including budget author Paul Ryan, have professed devotion to cult philosopher Ayn Rand who advocated greed and condemned God and faith - and their plan to destroy Medicare and look out for the rich over the rest of us is right in line with Rand's intense opposition to support for working American families.
• Republicans are relying on discredited and fringe economists to defend their budget.

We develop messaging by aggregating, analyzing and distilling polling, tested messaging, and expert recommendations, and monitoring the media to identify what is and isn't working.  See here for some of the experts and organizations we draw on.