Madison Fernandez
04/07/23
(Politico) The lesson for one prominent Democratic PAC from last cycle? Engage early and test your message.
Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United/Let America Vote, a PAC that boosts pro-campaign finance reform Democrats, said that in 2021, the group was focused on passing the Freedom to Vote Act — a Democratic bill that addressed voter access, election security, redistricting and campaign finance. That legislation ultimately died in the Senate.
“I’m really, really proud of the work that we did on that, but it meant that our electoral program got started a little bit later than it normally does,” Muller said. “I am really excited that this cycle we are kind of back to a place where we are kicking that programming off super early.”
Now, the group is rolling out endorsements and collecting research on how to best message on one of their top concerns.
Part of that effort includes conducting polls, focus groups and messaging experiments identifying voters’ attitudes toward threats to democracy. Muller said that last year, candidates showed “a little bit of hesitancy about the most effective way to talk about these messages,” and hopes that the research will better shape their messaging this go-around. The group is encouraging Democrats to “elevate the persistent threats to democracy and show they will stand up corruption, [and] protect people’s rights and freedoms” to create a contrast with Republicans.
A recent poll conducted by Impact Research for the group, first shared with Score, found that voters across party lines in battleground districts agree that democracy is under threat. What’s a bit more variable, however, is how they define that threat.
Politicians taking away individual rights and freedoms — including abortion access — was a top concern in the survey, followed by government corruption, politicians not accepting the results of elections they disagree with, and lawmakers listening to lobbyists and wealthy donors.
“Here’s a place where all of us should be concerned,” Muller said about voters’ perceptions on government corruption. “They actually think all politicians and public officials are corrupt or corrupted by a broken system. There isn’t one party that’s leading on that versus the other.”
Here, she argues, good politics is also good policy: “Ethics reform and cleaning up corruption and getting money out of politics, these aren’t just good talking points. These are essential to a healthy and functioning democracy.”
Muller called passing legislation like the Freedom to Vote Act “within grasp” in the future and said she’s confident about flipping the House and holding the Senate in 2024. The group has already endorsed in the Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio and Minnesota Senate races, many of which will be top targets for Republicans next year.
“We don’t feel like just because [the legislation] wasn’t successful in 2021 that it is off the table,” she said. “We know we have a unified Democratic caucus on it, so we just have to deliver the right people in the right offices so we can get it done.”
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