The American Principles Project (APP) is releasing its electoral blueprint for Republican campaigns in a midterm review obtained by the Daily Caller.
The conservative activist group is releasing a detailed report called “The Failed Red Wave,” laying out how Republicans performed below expectations in the 2022 midterms due to fundraising and messaging failures on key issues. The report also offers suggestions for how Republicans should change their strategy for the 2024 election cycle.
“A strong focus on cultural issues, combined with a populist economic platform, are what the GOP needs to persuade independents, soft Democrats, and yes, even single women and suburbanites, to vote Republican,” the report asserts, based on extensive data analysis and research. (RELATED: Anti-Trump Republican Presidential Candidate Maintains Close Ties To Pharmaceutical Industry)
READ THE FULL REPORT:
APP cites pre-election polling data, 2022 election outcomes, specific issue polling, exit polling, advertising data and additional data on public opinion to conclude Republicans must embrace former President Donald Trump’s economic platform, combined with aggressive positions on social issues, to improve their party’s performance in the polls. APP is known for supporting nuclear families and opposing the left-wing agenda put forward by LGBT activists.
“If Republicans want to do better, they are going to have to assuage voters’ fears about Social Security and Medicare, and they are going to have to reclaim Trump’s economic agenda,” the report states. “We saw in 2016 that even Republican voters, when forced to choose, prefer Trumponomics to deficit hawkery. The GOP should stop trying to bring the latter offer to the general electorate.”
The APP report specifically cites Trump’s positions on rebuilding American manufacturing, preserving social security and medicare, lowering taxes and reducing trade with China as policies the Republican Party as a whole should embrace. (RELATED: Heritage Action Releases Scathing GOP Midterm Election Report)
This is EXACTLY why the GOP needs to support a national 15 week bill.
Dems are going to simultaneously accuse Republicans of seeking to ban ALL ABORTIONS, while also arguing that no one supports late term abortions.
A 15 week bill let’s us go on offense and expose them. https://t.co/o6KVOYudSs
— Terry Schilling 🇺🇸 (@Schilling1776) August 24, 2023
Republicans failed to message on social issues because crime concerns were regional rather than national, and Democrats successfully countered voters’ fears of the party being captured by “defund the police” activists, APP found. On abortion, Democrats went on the offensive after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Republicans had no response, according to APP, allowing the left to control the narrative and portray their opponents as extremists on the issue.
ICYMI: Ron DeSantis drew outrage last night for highlighting the story of abortion survivor Miriam “Penny” Hopper.
“She survived multiple abortion attempts. She was left discarded in a pan…her grandmother saved her & brought her to a different hospital.”pic.twitter.com/YpBUlzU05i
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) August 24, 2023
The report goes on to say Republicans largely ignored other cultural issues, such as school curriculums related to race, sexuality and gender, despite Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s successful 2021 campaign centered around education. The same can be said for biological males who identify as transgender playing in women’s sports and minors receiving irreversible sex change procedures, according to APP.
APP cites Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2022 midterm victory by nearly 20 points to show how the GOP can successfully win elections by emphasizing cultural issues where the party has strong public support. DeSantis is now running in the Republican presidential primary against Trump, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and other candidates. (RELATED: Ronna McDaniel Says GOP Must Talk About Abortion To Win)
“On these types of issues, more so than on the budget or other economic issues, Republicans have an over-whelming advantage — their positions are popular, while their opponents’ positions are not. GOP candidates should take the opportunity and start pitching their cultural message more aggressively,” the APP report reads.
Democrats vastly outspent Republicans on advertising, with their candidates putting $1.06 billion towards advertisements compared to $498 million for the GOP. Issue groups supporting Republicans narrowly outspent Democratic groups $1.06 billion to $986 million on advertising, according to AdImpact data cited by APP.
As a result, Democrats aired nearly 25% more advertisements than Republican and seven of the top 10 highest spending candidates were Democratic, according to APP. Higher ad spending was particularly beneficial to gubernatorial and senate candidates in swing states such as Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Ohio, APP found based on data generated by the Wesleyan Media Project.
“Even more than turn-out operations or ballot harvesting, the GOP’s ad strategy and spending must be improved if the party desires any chance to turn around its under performances in crucial, toss-up races,” the report says.
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – AUGUST 23: Republican presidential candidates (L-R), former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and North Dakota governor Doug Burgum participate in the first debate of the GOP primary season hosted by FOX News at the Fiserv Forum on August 23, 2023 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The group concluded its report by urging the Republican Party to adopt APP’s recommendations for economic and social issues that proved successful for Youngkin, DeSantis and former President Trump in his 2016 presidential election victory.
“Ten years ago, just months after Republicans’ defeat in the 2012 election, APP released its first post-election ‘autopsy’ report urging the GOP to embrace social conservatism and economic populism to win back American voters,” APP President Terry Schilling said in a statement. “In 2016, Donald Trump proved our analysis correct.”
“Our latest report offers yet more overwhelming evidence that this path is the only one that will lead the GOP to victory in 2024,” he continued. “We urge Republican candidates to learn from the lessons of last year—and the last decade—in order to take advantage of the massive opportunity next year’s election will bring.”
Republicans were widely expected to flip the House and Senate in the 2022 midterms because of “red wave” midterm backlash to President Joe Biden’s first two years in office. The GOP narrowly recaptured the House, and Democrats gained a Senate seat to solidify their party’s majority in the chamber.
Trump was roundly criticized for the Republicans’ underwhelming midterm performance because the candidates he supported in key states such as Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada and Georgia had been defeated. The former president attributed Republicans’ midterm disappointment to the party’s stance on abortion in a Truth Social post in January.
Trump announced his presidential campaign shortly after the midterms concluded, and he is the current favorite to win the 2024 Republican nomination. The RealClearPolitics (RCP) national polling average shows Trump leading DeSantis by 40 points. The FiveThirtyEight national polling average has Trump nearly 36 points ahead of DeSantis and the rest of the GOP field.