Republican stars such as Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have launched a full-court press to convince the public that the GOP has the right policies to address persistent poverty. …
In my new book on issue ownership, I show that parties own issues in part because their rank-and-file voters are deeply committed to prioritizing these issues. These commitments are then reflected in how the parties govern. I find that Democrats and Republicans spend more public dollars — and pass more landmark legislation — on the issues they own when they are in power in Washington. Americans are aware of these priorities, and they tend to name the party that places a higher priority on a particular issue as the one better able to handle that issue.
And therein lies the problem for Republican leaders seeking to claim ownership of the poverty issue: their voters aren’t particularly concerned about poverty. CONT.
Patrick J. Egan (NYU), The Monkey Cage