Why, in both primaries and the GE, is the focus almost exclusively on "the middle class"?

[MadDAsHell]

Whether Democratic or Republican, liberal or conservative, 99% of the rhetoric seems to focus on the middle class, with almost no mention at all of the most vulnerable, the poor.

How do we get more jobs for the middle class?
How do we get tax relief for the middle class?
How is such-and-such-policy going to impact the middle class?
on
and
on
and
on...

BERNIE
1) https://berniesanders.com/issues/income-and-wealth-inequality/ mentions the poor once, the middle class twice.

http://feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-economic-inequality/ mentions the middle class 5 times, but mentions the poor only once.

Bernie's Boston Globe Editorial from June (https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/06/12/bernie-sanders-the-war-middle-class/hAJUTAjWgupBLx4zAMh7nN/story.html), titled "War on the Middle Class," fails to mention the poor once; there is no corresponding "The War on the Poor" editorial.

Sanders does have some information on poverty, but it's on his Senate website, not his Presidential Campaign website: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/buzz/war-on-poverty

HILLARY
As we've seen recently, Hillary Clinton seems to have a warped view of "the middle class," including folks whom many of us would consider extremely wealthy.

She too, more often than not, fails to even mention the poor, with her rhetoric almost exclusively focused on the middle class: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/p/briefing/factsheets/2015/11/14/clinton-campaign-on-protecting-middle-class-from-tax-hikes/

REPUBLI-CONS
And we all know the Republican candidates love to tout their (imaginary) commitment to the middle class, and stats purporting to show a significant negative affect on the middle class by the Obama Presidency.

So questions:

1) Is the "middle class" a real thing, or do we just have rich and poor?

2) If the "middle class" is a real thing, are things really so bad for them that we need to put the focus almost exclusively on them? Or are candidates focusing on the middle class, not because they're bad off, but because by middle class they really mean "the largest group of voters"?

3) Why are the poor ignored, most alarmingly by the Democratic candidates who, by party affiliation alone, should be pretending they care? It it because they're less likely to donate to the campaign? Less likely to vote?

4) Is there anyway (and time left) for us or the DNC to elevate discussion of the plight of the poor in this primary process?

[saturnsring]

1. because the middle class is disappearing?

the poor aren't ignored there are many programs out there that benefit the poor - the republicans are always trying to cut them out but theyre still there

[randys1]

2. Poor are invisible. And the ones on the street who are not, are considered a nuisance.

Middle class is disappearing because we dont make jack shit here anymore.

Different problems. Same solution.

[merrily]

3. No one knows exactly what the parameters of "middle class" are, but most people consider

themselves middle class. So, that is where the bulk of the votes are.

I've not heard politicians diss the middle class, but I have heard them diss the poor. So, the middle class is less controversial than the poor, and even less controversial than the rich Therefore focusing the middle class is not likely to lose votes.

Gets the most votes, loses the fewest votes.

Let's hear it for the Profile in Courage politicians willing to take the bold step of bloviating about the middle class.

[Dewgong]

4. Why they do it

If you called poor white people "poor" instead of "middle class," then they wouldn't be able to say "but at least I'm better than blacks."
I know this from a life time of experience.

[winter is coming]

5. Because very few of the candidates give two shits about doing anything for the poor

and are too chickenshit to admit they're primarily engaged in doing things for the rich. Hence, they pretend to be on the side of the ever-shrinking middle class.

[upaloopa]

6. I think one idea is there should be no poor

but the poor should be part of the middle class if we had the right means to do that.

We live in a consumer economy and it takes consumers spending to have a healthy economy that works for everyone.

So the more people we can have with spending power the better our economy.
Bring the poor into the middle class as much as possible

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

7. Because most people like to think of themselves as actually BEING the middle class

even though most of them are actually poor.

And folks might vaguely dream of being another Jay-Z or Beyonce, but most of them really only aspire to be safely and contentedly middle class and would be happy to achieve that.

[Eric J in MN]

8. A candidate can propose policies which would help the poor without using the word "poor."

Bernie Sanders said in a debate that universal healthcare would solve the problem of Republican governors refusing to expand Medicaid (to the working poor.)

He has also said that free-state universities would let all young people know they can afford college (which especially means the poor.)

[progree]

9. Excellent question. I wish they'd add "and working poor" or "and lower income people"

to the phrase "middle class" when they make declarations like those in your OP. At least occasionally.

And while there are "many programs" for the poor, it's not like they are all taken care of and live better than the "middle class", *sigh*

Of course I know the answer why politicians rant and rave about middle class this and middle class that and middle class here and middle class there and middle class everywhere:

most voting people don't consider themselves poor and look down on the "poor" as if they are synonymous with welfare queens and bums and "takers" and people who rely on big government rather than pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. And that the poor are mostly "multicultural types" too, if you know what I mean (wink wink).

[msongs]

10. that's who votes? not enuff rich ones, maybe "poor"people don't bother nt