How the GOP won the economic spin war: 3 theories

A new Bloomberg poll has good news for Republicans: 55 percent of Americans believe that cutting taxes, along with slashing spending, is necessary to give businesses confidence to start hiring again — a key GOP talking point that Washington Republicans have been hammering for months. Liberal economists have long derided the idea of such a "confidence fairy" — arguing that more and smarter stimulus measures, not some sort of spending-cuts-inspired momentum, is what will encourage businesses to create jobs. How did Republicans persuade Americans to adopt their thinking? Here, three theories:

1. Democrats never made a strong counterargument

The Left strongly believes that slashing both taxes and spending will cripple the recovery, says Greg Sargent at The Washington Post. But Washington Democrats failed to make "a real case for more stimulus and for deferring action on the deficit until unemployment came down." Americans only heard one side of the story, so it's no wonder they're accepting "GOP doctrine as gospel."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

2. Voters don't understand economics

Americans care more about creating jobs than reducing federal debt, says Steve Benen at Washington Monthly. Yet they keep repeating the GOP's "ridiculous message" that cutting spending will help create jobs, and slashing taxes will somehow reduce the deficit when "tackling the deficit would make matters worse, not better, for those hurting most." What's behind this jarring disconnect? "Public ignorance."

3. Actually, the GOP is simply right

People believe the GOP because Republicans happen to know their economics, says Tina Korbe at Hot Air. Obama and the Democrats got their enormous stimulus package in 2009, and look how well that turned out.