2012 Decoded

Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg is out with a must-read polling memo this morning, which offers some eye-opening advice to President Obama and his re-election team.  After testing several of the president's economic messages, he finds the argument that the economy is back on the right track polls miserably - and "produces disastrous results."

"It is weaker than even the weakest Republican message and is 10 points weaker in intensity than either Republican message," Greenberg wrote. "A third said this message made them less likely to support Barack Obama. Alarmingly, this message barely receives majority support among self-identified Democrats - and even less support among all other groups."

The memo reads as a glaring wake-up call to the White House, which has been trumpeting improving economic figures lately.   Greenberg notes that voters are reporting "no improvement" in their job situation since last June, and have experienced reduced wages and benefits and health insurance coverage.  The picture Greenberg's polling paints is an America public still deeply pessimistic about their future, and skeptical of Obama's handling of the economy.

Greenberg writes that the jury is still out on the president's overall messaging, and offered high praise for the focus on protecting the middle class - which ranked as the most effective argument the White House has made.  And he noted that Republicans are performing even more abysmally, with their presidential primary battles pushing independents into the Democratic camp.