The media may love Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, but that doesn't mean voters agree with them.
Democrats have a full set of economic priorities they're pushing in the run-up to November's elections, but, the
New York Times points out, at least in the national media, issues like the minimum wage are getting
drowned out by ISIS and Ebola.
The Democrats’ strategy of making an increase in the minimum wage a midterm election rallying cry has been drowned out by world events. The party continues to talk about it, but it appears that few are listening. [...]
Events overseas have undermined Democrats’ strategy to tie their midterm prospects to an economic theme that includes calls for a higher minimum wage, reducing income inequality, pay equity for women and help with college tuition. Instead, the public and Congress have been overwhelmed this summer by a border crisis, an Ebola outbreak in Africa and, most notably, the terrorist threat from the Islamic State, also known by the acronym ISIS.
That's true to an extent, but the
Times' Michael Shear and Carl Hulse, though, seem to be missing just how much they're talking about a national-media phenomenon that doesn't necessarily reflect voters' priorities. The Middle East may be drowning out the minimum wage on CNN and in the
New York Times, but
in Arkansas, Republicans are feeling threatened enough by the popularity of a minimum wage ballot initiative to say they support it, however tepidly. For that matter, in recent polling, the economy is still
way out in front of terrorism or international issues as the most important issue facing the United States.
Yes, if the media focuses overwhelmingly on bombings and beheadings, it can drown out the economic issues voters care most about, and the constant media chatter can help push voter interest in some issues over others. But even though the media's Middle East coverage is dominated by Republican voices like Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, Americans are still deeply divided over how the government should respond to ISIS. It's hardly clear that this is a home run for Republicans, even if it is a serious distraction from the issues Democrats would prefer to focus on. And raising the minimum wage and promoting equal pay remain incredibly popular issues—issues Republicans are on the wrong side of.