Romney’s ‘you didn’t build that’ attack: An epic FAIL
Romney’s ‘you didn’t build that’ attack: An epic FAIL
By Greg Sargent
snip//
The freeloading 47 percent video was far worse for Romney than “you didn’t build that” was for Obama. Now, it’s important to be careful about these numbers. Often controversies over remarks like these have an impact on public perceptions of candidates’ images in unseen ways. While people say they don’t care about such remarks — just as high numbers say they don’t see Romney’s Bain years as a negative — this stuff can end up reinforcing underlying views of candidates, anyway. The better way to judge whether such efforts to define the opposition are working is to look at public perceptions of the target’s overall image and policy priorities.
And on that score, it’s clear who is winning the definition battle. Poll after poll after poll shows people think Romney doesn’t care about the needs and problems of ordinary Americans, and that his policies are skewed to favor the rich. Cementing those perceptions was the real strategic goal of the Obama camp’s attacks on the freeloading 47 percent remarks, on Romney’s low tax rates and web of offshore dealings, and on Bain layoffs and offshoring. Meanwhile, poll after poll after poll shows people still think Obama cares more about the needs and problems of folks like them and that he can be trusted to look out for the middle class. This, even though the “you didn’t build that” attacks were designed to persuade struggling Americans that Obama disdains people’s hard work and doesn’t really sympathize with their plight.
How to explain this? As Benjy Sarlin notes, GOP focus grouping reveals swing voters simply don’t believe that GOP attacks on this or that Obama quote truly reflect what he really thinks. But they’re inclined to accept that Dem attacks on Romney quotes do reflect his true beliefs.
more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/romneys-you-didnt-build-that-attack-an-epic-fail/2012/10/03/87b89dcc-0d69-11e2-bd1a-b868e65d57eb_blog.html
