Media react to New York Times poll's bad news for Democrats: 'It's the economy, stupid'
A NYT/Siena College poll found independent female voters swung dramatically to the right in the past month
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A New York Times/Siena College poll out Monday has attracted media attention for affirming the argument that the economy trumps abortion when it comes to voters' priorities.
Conservative journalists said the poll debunked Democrats' messaging that this November would be "Roevember," referring to the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June.
Some liberal journalists, however, expressed skepticism about the poll results. Both sides took to Twitter to give their takes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Inflation has skyrocketed since President Biden took office. (istock)
Charles C. W. Cooke, senior writer for The National Review, shared some of the devastating numbers for Democrats, writing, "Roevember isn't materializing."
"NYT/Siena has Biden at 39% approve—with 58% disapprove, 45 percent ‘strongly’ disapprove. Right-wrong track is 24-64. And 'Roevember' isn’t materializing: 5% say abortion most important issue; women split D-R 47-47; independent women back GOP by 18 points," he tweeted.
Ed Morrissey, managing editor for conservative blog Hot Air, explained the results by quoting Democratic strategist James Carville's famous line, "It's the economy stupid," in his headline for the blog: "NYT's sudden revelation: It's the economy, stupid -- and the GOP's winning on it."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He also shared how the poll found abortion was a low priority among women while the economy ranked much higher among all Democrat demographics.
"Abortion only scores 9% among women, only 10% among 18-29YOs, and only 4% among 30-44YOs. What about other Democrat demos? College degree: Economy/inflation 37%, abortion 5% Black voters: 39%, 6% Hispanics: 49%, 7% Urban voters: 34%, 5% Democrats themselves: 34%, 8%," he tweeted.
Milk prices are displayed in a supermarket in Washington, DC, on May 26, 2022, as Americans braced for summer sticker shock as inflation continues to grow. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Breitbart News writer John Hayward claimed the poll showed the disconnect between the liberal media and the "priorities of working people."
"The disconnect between the volume of the howling in Very Online Media Echo Chambers about abortion post-Dobbs, versus the priorities of ordinary working people, is astounding," he tweeted.
But some Democrats in the media called the poll's results into question. Democratic strategist and Daily Beast contributor Max Burns said the huge shift in independent women voters to the GOP seemed "suspect."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The huge number of polls out this cycle *should* be providing clearer data, but I suspect they may be generating more outlier polls. The huge alleged one-month swing of independent women from Dems to GOP in particular seems suspect," he tweeted.
In a Twitter thread, he followed up by questioning why women didn't list abortion as one of their top voting issues, compared to past polls.
"Since June, women have consistently listed abortion at or among the top of their important issues. Seems odd and unlikely they'd suddenly abandon it and swing almost 30 points to the right. We just don't see people abandon their core issues that way," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}McKayla Wolff left and Karen Wolff, joined hands as they rallied for abortion rights at the capitol in St. Paul, Minn., on Sunday July 17, 2022. (Photo by Jerry Holt/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Ryan Cooper, managing editor for left-wing The American Prospect Magazine, lambasted the poll results in a Twitter thread.
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"Jerome Powell has thus far failed entirely to contain inflation but he's going to hand Congress to the GOP," he wrote. He lifted a quote from the Times article where a Democrat voter said the economy was more important to her than abortion this election to complain, "this kind of person right here. here's who decides if we get to live in a right-wing dictatorship," he wrote.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hanna Trudo, senior political correspondent for The Hill, reacted to the news by denying that abortion was part of the Democratic Party's "ideology."
She said, "[For what it's worth], re: NYT/Siena data point on abortion, some progressives ([Bernie] Sanders) and moderates (Carville, [Daivd] Axelrod) have warned against making the issue central to Dems’ closing midterm pitch. It’s not really an ideological thing within the party."
MSNBC host Chris Hayes downplayed the poll results, suggesting only rising gas prices in the last month were to blame for the shift.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Honestly think the ‘gas prices monocausal theory of politics’ is better than lots of the alternatives," he tweeted, adding, "Has inflation *gotten worse* in the last month? No. Has 'the economy' gotten worse, in the last month? Well the stock market has but overall, not really. Have gas prices risen in the last month? Yes."
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Thursday it was announced the consumer price index rose 0.4% month over month while climbing 8.2% on an annual basis, both higher than expected. Meanwhile, core prices climbed 0.6% from the previous month and 6.6% over the previous year, the fastest annual increase since 1982.
Fox News' Megan Henney contributed to this report