Why Republicans Are Suddenly Talking about Economic Inequality
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images Jeb Bush, at an event in Detroit this month, gave a speech called Restoring the Right to Rise in America," another sign of Republicans' growing interest in the issue of inequality.
For decades, Democrats have been the party that emphasizes concerns about inequality. So why are many top Republicans including a number of the partys presidential hopefuls talking about the issue?
Issue ownership theories predict that parties and candidates will emphasize issues on which they have an advantage specifically, ones in which the public tends to see their party as more competent. For instance, Democrats historically own education and health care, while Republicans are typically seen as better on crime and national security. Given that the G.O.P. has prioritized economic growth and opportunity over distributional concerns in recent decades, we would therefore expect concerns about inequality to be voiced primarily by Democrats like Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, not Republicans.
Yet last week, Jeb Bush gave a speech in Detroit titled Restoring the Right to Rise in America the latestin a series of proposals and statements by top Republicans focusing on the rapid increase of income inequality in this country.
Though Republicans shift in emphasis has drawn some derisive commentary, its worth examining why one party might choose to trespass into territory associated with the other. Such a move may be necessary to address an issue that the public sees as especially important and to minimize the damage it can cause to a disadvantaged candidate or party. In his first presidential campaign, for instance, Bill Clinton successfully portrayed himself as tough on crime, defusing a highly salient issue that had been seen as a weakness of Democrats such as the partys 1988 presidential nominee, Michael Dukakis.
Along these lines, Mr. Obamas recent focus on inequality has helped make the issue more prominent in policy debates within Washington. But the issue is still not a top public concern in fact, fewer than half of Americans think the government should do a lot to address it.
A better explanation is that the G.O.P. needs a way to criticize President Obamas management of the economy. With more jobs being created, Republicans have been forced to shift to criticizing inequality and continued wage stagnation rather than a lack of economic growth.
Another reason candidates trespass into the other partys issues: They hope to be seen as less deficient in character traits associated with those issues. Research by the political scientist Danny Hayes finds in particular that Republican candidates who can successfully portray themselves as at least as compassionate or empathetic as their opponents can turn a traditional Democratic advantage into an electoral asset. George W. Bush, for instance, focused on the traditionally Democratic issue of education to bolster his credentials as a compassionate conservative. By contrast, the 2012 Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, was unusually poorly regarded on character traits such as empathy a possible consequence of criticism of his career at Bain Capital and a leaked video in which he described 47 percent of Americans as dependent on government.
The Republican focus on inequality could address this vulnerability by helping the party look more caring, reducing the G.O.P.s damaging reputation for caring only about the economic interests of the rich, as National Reviews Ramesh Ponnuru put it.
But there is risk in issue-trespassing of the sort that the Republicans are attempting. One political science study found that the strategy is rarely successful and that voters tend to rely on party stereotypes instead a conclusion that is reinforced by miscues like the infamous Dukakis tank ride. Democrats are already likening Jeb Bush to Mr. Romney in an attempt to buttress the stereotype of the G.O.P. as the party of the rich.
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Why Republicans Are Suddenly Talking about Economic Inequality