Keller: Trump, Harris need to talk economy policies to voters
The opinions expressed below are Jon Keller's, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global.
BOSTON - Both major-party candidates for president - are expected to provide some long-awaited detail about their economic policies this week. Vice President Kamala Harris plans a speech focusing on lowering costs for middle-class families and how she will fight corporate price-gouging, according to a campaign spokesperson. And Former President Donald Trump is due to address the economy as well.
And for the first time, there's polling showing Harris has wiped out Trump's longstanding lead in who voters trust to handle the economy.
What's driving polls?
"When you hear Donald Trump saying the market was gonna crash when Joe Biden was elected, certainly, he was only off by several thousand percent on that," joked Art Hogan, chief market strategist.
In any campaign, there's more rhetoric about the economy than truth. And no matter how hard Biden touted signs of economic growth, inflation-battered consumers have continued to give him failing grades.
But a new national poll from the Financial Times and the University of Michigan Business School finds Harris has erased the solid margin Trump has long held on who voters trust most to handle the economy. That same poll found that while four in 10 voters blame Democratic policies for price hikes, a whopping six in 10 put the onus on "large corporations taking advantage of inflation," the explanation Democrats have long preferred.
And to Hogan, the superior performance of discount retailers reflects consumers clapping back with their credit cards. "Think about BJ's Wholesale, Costco, Walmart, TJX - four of the best performing retail stores this year, and there's a reason for that; that common thread is easy to figure out: Consumers are saying, 'We're gonna push back here. We're gonna find a better deal.'"
How candidates can make the economy work for them
So as both candidates prepare to spell out their economic plans, Hogan framed their challenge as explaining how they can harness the mounting signs of good news to chase away the bad news. "For Harris, focus on the positives and how we're gonna continue that. And for Trump, I would say, talk about what you'd do differently and how you think that would positively impact people's lives," he said.
Trump has said he wants stiffer tariffs on imported goods, a recycled policy from his term in office. He could help himself by explaining how the upward pressure this could put on prices will be overshadowed by benefits to small business. And he might offer an energy policy that provides a bit more detail than "drill, baby, drill."
And Harris might discuss what parts of Bidenomics she'd want to change.
But judging from what we've seen so far, we're more likely to get even more attacks on the policies and motives of their competitor.