Rep. Tim Ryan predicted this week that the economy will end up being an “Achilles’ heel” for President Trump in 2020.
The Democratic presidential hopeful said he knows the president wants to campaign on the economy, but that it’s not working for “the vast majority of people in the country.”
“Those commercials write themselves,” he told USA TODAY in an interview published Thursday. “It’s going to be an Achilles’ heel for him, and we’ve got to take advantage of it by nominating somebody who can go speak to the working-class people in those areas: white, black, brown, gay, straight, people who, you know, take a shower after work.”
The Ohio Democrat, who is pitching himself as the candidate who can win back the midwestern and rust belt states that Mr. Trump flipped in 2016, did say the Democratic party has a “perception problem.”
“We are perceived as being a coastal elite, Ivy League party that does not connect to working-class people,” he said. “The waitress, the teacher, the construction worker, we’ve lost our connection to them.”
When the economy is strong, it typically boosts the party of the incumbent president in election years.
But some recent polling has shown that voter optimism on the economy isn’t necessarily aligning with how they think Mr. Trump is doing overall.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.