The Economy Is Humming, but Trump Is Tweeting. Republicans Are Worried.

New Fake Times ^ | By JONATHAN MARTIN and ALEXANDER BURNS

[lasereye]

They cannot rely on the booming economy to win over undecided voters.

I agree with that. The undecided voter has to be convinced that if Pelosi becomes speaker of the House the economy will tank. I don't even believe that. I believe if Hillary had won the economy would still be stuck in neutral, but that's irrelevant at this point. At least in districts carried by Trump, the focus should be on the border and impeachment. Force the Democrat opponent to respond on those things. Ann Coulter continually says the border should be the focus. Talk about the loony ideas coming out of the Dem party too, like abolishing ICE.

Making the economy the primary focus of your campaign is a loser. The Democrats captured the Senate back in 1986, right in the middle of an economic boom, when Reagan was President. The losing R's were probably counting on the economy to carry them through, while the Dems had their usual attacks: "the GOP is anti-women, anti-workers, anti-environment, anti-education blah blah blah" just like today (except today the Dems have gone much further left).

To counter attacks you have to have attacks of your own that differentiate you from your opponent. There's no way to make the strong economy into an attack on the Democrats that makes any sense to the typical undecided voter. It's more like playing defense. You lose playing defense.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

The real takeaway from the article is buried near the bottom and, frankly, your excerpting and calling it the "fake" Times contributed to the problem:

America First Action, a political committee aligned with Mr. Trump, conducted a series of focus groups over the summer and concluded the party had a severe voter-turnout problem, brought on in part by contentment about the economy and a refusal by Republicans to believe that Democrats could actually win the midterm elections.

Conservative-leaning voters in the study routinely dismissed the possibility of a Democratic wave election, with some describing the prospect as “fake news,” said an official familiar with the research, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the data was not intended to be disclosed. Breaking that attitude of complacency is now the Republicans’ top priority, far more than wooing moderates with gentler messaging about economic growth

Ignoring a threat and calling it "fake news" is a great way to depress conservative turnout and give them the blue wave they want.

Freepers need to tune out the "remain claim, all is well" echo chamber and get out the vote.