Obama SOTU speech connects on the economy

President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech last night was clearly designed to kick off his 2012 reelection campaign by framing his eventual Republican contender — whoever that might be — as a heartless economic Darwinian. (Check out this smart New York Times analysis by Mark Landler that expounds on the point). 

But by making economic equality the centerpiece of his address, Obama was a hit last night with swing voters — those people critical to his success or failure in November.

That's the read, at least, from Democratic pollsters Democracy Corps.

Check out this chart, which shows what swing voters thought of last night's message.

Source: Democracy Corps

Those are some pretty good results, no matter how you cut it. The 24-point swing on the middle class point is particularly arresting. 

Of course, economic fairness is a theme that loyal Macro readers will find familiar.

We've written quite a bit about rising inequality, which used to be the exclusive domain of boring economists until the Occupy Wall Street movement helped push the idea into the mainstream, and from there, squarely into President Obama's reelection strategy. 

Here's my take on why that matters so much in economics, and apparently politics, too. 

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