April 28, 2022: Voters are not partying

The enormous gap between the excitement in Washington about the return of the WHCA weekend and the ongoing anxiety of voters hit us hard this week as we watched focus groups of voters conducted by longtime Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. On Tuesday night, Lake talked to a group of “high -information” Democrats scattered around the country over a Zoom call while we watched on mute. This appeared to be one of the more financially well-off focus groups we’ve seen this year, but like the others, these voters were defined by their disgust. When asked the first word that popped into their mind about how things are going in the country, here’s what they said: “frustrated,” “disbelief,” “aggravated,” “discouraged,” “unsure,” “worrying,” “resigned,” “frightened.” The only positive words offered were “better” and “OK.” Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.