Economics

Can Rubio Make Helping the Middle Class a Republican Issue?

Rubio’s economic approach, if not his specific ideas, gets a warmer reception on the left than from some on the right.

Senator Marco Rubio participates in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on March 10, 2015, in Washington.

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images
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Marco Rubio says he wants to make helping the poor and middle class a Republican issue. It’s not clear how much his party wants to do it.

The U.S. senator from Florida, who announced his presidential run on Monday, casts himself as a “reform conservative,” advocating from the right an economic cause also championed by President Barack Obama and Democrats amid growing inequality.