The key to understand Democrats' muddled messaging on the economy is that they think their own voters are simpletons. They scatter talking points as though tossing seeds to pigeons in the park, hoping each voter finds SOMETHING to latch onto and repeat.
"The economy is actually awful - don't believe what all those reports tell you!"
"The economy is great but all credit goes to Obama - Trump had nothing to do with it!"
"The rich are getting richer but this economy isn't helping the poor or minorities!"
"The economy is great but all credit goes to Obama - Trump had nothing to do with it!"
"The rich are getting richer but this economy isn't helping the poor or minorities!"
Note that the latter talking point is entirely, demonstrably false, but Democrats assume their voters aren't going to read past the Twitter headlines to see rising wages and full-spectrum job growth. All the pigeons have to do is pick up a seed that catches their eye.
The goal for Democrats is to stave off a preference cascade among their own voters. They scatter out a dozen contradictory talking points that will appeal to different people in different ways, hoping those folks will loudly repeat the phony talking point in person and online.
This keeps wavering Democrats from breaking away and realizing Trump has delivered economic growth their Party solons said was impossible, and it's reaching into sectors of the economy Democrats desperately need to stay unemployed, bitter, and dependent on government welfare.
The wavering Democrat voter starts wondering if maybe Trump is doing a solid job and it would be a mistake to replace him with someone that thinks growth is impossible or immoral... and then his friends and online connections blast him from all sides with the talking points.
Most of these people don't want to get into screaming matches with their friends or randos on message boards. They sure don't want to spend the afternoon digging into thick economic reports to prove the talking points are wrong. They quiet down and fall into line.
Some may still end up voting for Trump in the privacy of the booth in November, but the important thing is to keep them from TALKING about it right now. Dem voters who think Trump is getting results and look askance at their own party candidates MUST be made to feel isolated.
Preference cascades begin when dissidents no longer feel isolated, when they look around and see lots of others who feel as they do. Rush Limbaugh triggered an enormous one in the early stages of his career. Dems are correct to fear Trump could set off another.
It can be a simple as a wave of Democrat voters liking the practical results of Trump's policies and feeling nervous about gambling on a Democrat candidate who clearly doesn't understand why they worked, or is actively hostile to the good results.
The important thing for Dems to do right now is scatter those seeds, keep the pigeons squawking, keep every D voter who feels queasy about their antics at SOTU or their bizarro presidential candidates feeling alone among their peers, especially online.
Chaos and incoherence can actually be better suited to such a task than logical, coherent messaging. Coherent arguments get picked apart; if portions are clearly untrue, the whole is rejected. Wild shotgun blasts of phony talking points are harder to shut down. /end
