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With 100 days until the midterms, one thing has become surprisingly clear.
Democrats know exactly what election they want to run.
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I’m not talking about policy. Republicans have plenty of issues that resonate with voters.
A grocery store stands along a street in Brooklyn, N.Y., on July 13, 2026. The Urban Institute released new data that found more Americans are using credit cards and other means to cover grocery bills as food prices continue to rise, along with other necessities. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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After three decades studying how people make decisions, I’ve learned that people don’t vote issue by issue. They don’t carry around a mental spreadsheet comparing tax policy, border security, energy production and education reform.
They look for one idea that helps them make sense of everything else.
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They’ve taken a complicated election and reduced it to one word:
After three decades studying how people make decisions, I’ve learned that people don’t vote issue by issue. They don’t carry around a mental spreadsheet comparing tax policy, border security, energy production and education reform. They simplify.
Whether or not you agree with their solutions isn’t the point. From a communications perspective, they’ve done something incredibly powerful: they’ve given voters a lens.
Every new headline about rising costs reinforces the same story.
That’s what great messaging does. It doesn’t just communicate. It organizes.
Republicans, meanwhile, have no shortage of winning issues.
Those are all important conversations. Many poll extremely well.
Republicans, meanwhile, have no shortage of winning issues.
That’s the difference between having a message and having a menu.
As someone who studies persuasion, I can tell you that clarity almost always wins.
Republicans’ closest thing to a national message is that Democrats have become too extreme. That they’re too far left, too ideological, too willing to let government expand into every part of American life.
That message energizes Republicans. It persuades some independents, too.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has promised a 30% discount on a core basket of groceries at city-backed stores, raising questions from economists about how the savings would be financed. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
Most Americans aren’t waking up asking whether Washington has embraced democratic socialism.
They’re asking why groceries still cost so much.
They’re wondering why buying a home feels out of reach.
They’re looking at insurance bills, child care costs and monthly budgets.
Republicans’ closest thing to a national message is that Democrats have become too extreme. That they’re too far left, too ideological, too willing to let government expand into every part of American life.
Democrats have decided that every road leads back to that conversation.
Republicans are still asking voters to connect the dots across half a dozen different conversations.
But with only 100 days left, the biggest advantage Democrats have isn’t necessarily on the issues.
It’s that they’ve decided what the election is about.
And in politics, the party that defines the election usually starts with the upper hand.
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The next 100 days won’t simply determine who wins the House or Senate. They’ll determine which story voters carry with them into the voting booth.
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Because elections are rarely won by the party with the longest list of arguments.
They’re won by the party that gives people the simplest way to understand the moment they’re living through.
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Lee Hartley Carter is a communications strategist and public opinion expert. She's the founder and CEO of Carter Intelligence Group and author of "Persuasion: Convincing Others When Facts Don't Seem to Matter" (TarcherPerigee, September 3, 2019). Follow her on X on @lh_carter.
