Data Shows: How The Pandemic Handed Democrats A Winning Issue That Crosses Party Lines.
One villain emerged in post-pandemic America to unite voters across the spectrum, but Democrats need to use the right words to talk about it.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Democrats led by Bill Clinton famously “triangulated” - appealing to a center-right electorate by positioning their policies as, among other things, pro-business. Regulation was out, public-private partnerships were in, and solving problems with market-based approaches was seen as inherently more effective than proposing top-down government programs.
The pro-market consensus probably suffered its first major body blow with the 2008 banking crisis and subsequent recession, but it appears that the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated the erosion of American trust in the private sector.
Polling hints at this breakdown in trust - in 2023, the percentage of Americans saying they have “very little” confidence in “big business” reached 42%, its highest point in 50 years and a 10-point increase since pre-pandemic 2019.
But analysis of social media conversations reveals crucial details in changing public sentiment that the polls often can’t capture. Here are the top 50 words and phrases used by Americans in 2019, and then in the same time period in 2023, mentioning the words “corporate” or “corporation/s” (color-coded by sentiment):
While some negativity can be detected in 2019, especially around references to money and taxes, the conversation was largely positive and pro-business. During the same time period in 2023, however, negativity is far stronger, and words like “profits” and “greed,” neither of which appear among the top 50 words used in the 2019 dataset, are among the most-used terms mentioned in the 2023 dataset.
Also notable is the appearance of politics in the 2023 dataset - the words “Republicans,” “Trump,” and “Biden” are all prominent.
Why did the pandemic and its aftermath shift attitudes so dramatically? I have my theories, but this is a question better answered by sociologists and historians. What’s important is that the shift is real, and didn’t fade even after the pandemic appeared to.
There are partisan differences in how Americans criticize corporations, though - the word used more than any other in the 2023 dataset is “media,” and take a look at the top words used in the bios of those who mention “media” along with “corporate” or “corporation/s”:
Americans complaining about “corporate media” clearly lean to the right, even though there are plenty of reasons for lefties to oppose corporate media. My first takeaway here is that “corporate media” appears to be adjacent to “liberal media” as a term of disparagement used by right-leaning folks, though the difference is significant enough that if a Democrat like President Biden complained about not getting a fair shake from the “corporate media,” he might earn a few head-nods from conservatives without having betrayed any progressive values.
Meanwhile, take a look at the bio descriptors of Americans who use the word “greed” in connection with corporations:
Americans talking about corporations being greedy are clearly a left-leaning bunch - the only word here that might signify right-leaners is “Trump,” but his name is used often in bios of foes as well as fans, while “Democrat” and “Blue” are clearly prominent.
So, are these actually two separate - and unbridgeable - conversations about corporate power? After all, “corporate media” complaints from conservatives could be more cultural (the word “woke” is among the top 50 terms used about corporations above) - would accusations of corporate greed fall on deaf conservative ears, and would corporate media complaints motivate progressives far less?
Is there any rhetoric that might resonate with both groups?
Actually, yes. Take a look at bio descriptors of Americans who use the word “tax” (or taxes/taxed) along with references to corporations:
There are more left partisan signifiers than right partisan signifiers, but mentions of corporate taxes are clearly pulling in people on both ends of the spectrum - the words “MAGA,” “Conservative” and “Christian” are all in the top 50.
But maybe those right-leaning folks are defending corporate tax cuts? Or calling for more of them?
That doesn’t appear to be the case either. When we isolate just Americans with one of those three words — “MAGA,” “conservative,” or “Christian” — in their bios, their conversation about taxes and corporations looks pretty negative on the idea of corporate tax cuts:
“Cuts” is not only the most prominent word - it’s a word that’s nearly always used as a term of disparagement when referring to tax policy (“relief” and “reform,” usually the GOP’s preferred tax cut branding, were both absent from the top 50, though “rich” and “profits” and “corporate welfare” all cleared the bar).
Also, the word “Republicans” is nearly as prominent, and it doesn’t appear to be used much in a positive context. In other words, even Republicans associate Republicans with corporate tax cuts, and not in a good way. it’s not hard to understand why - for decades, tax cuts for high earners and businesses have been the GOP’s only answer to any economic question, and even their own voters appear to know it.
The math here is pretty simple: the public is more skeptical of corporate power than any time in the past 50 years, and the GOP is strongly associated with giving corporations more money and power. Democrats should save messages about “greed” for their base and remind voters relentlessly about the GOP’s ongoing obsession with cutting corporate taxes.