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Congratulations to our presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden!
BuzzFeed: Democrats' worries about electability are increasingly focused on Medicare For All
That's a shortened version of their very long headline:
Democrats Have Spent All Year Freaked Out About "Electability." That Panic Is Increasingly Focused On Medicare For All.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mollyhensleyclancy/the-democrats-freakout-over-electability-is-increasingly
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — There’s just one thing holding Bernie Michaels back from voting for Elizabeth Warren.
“It’s long past due that a woman becomes president,” Michaels, who lives in Hiawatha, Iowa, said. “If Warren didn’t have that single-payer thing on her, I would be behind her. I would probably choose her. But I just don’t see that being electable.”
Michaels is retired now, but when he was a member of the Carpenters Local union, his insurance helped him navigate a major health crisis with just a few hundred dollars in copays — insurance he and his union fought for, he said. “People don’t want to give that up.”
-snip-
If the singular issue of Medicare for All becomes increasingly linked with electability — the factor that remains many Democrats’ top priority in the primary — it could spell trouble for Warren, who has already struggled with questions about whether she can beat President Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders, too, has hinged his candidacy on Medicare for All, but has faced less scrutiny — in part because he has run a campaign less focused on broad appeal to moderate voters than Warren has.
-snip-
So far in the primary, the question of what makes a candidate “electable” has varied wildly from one voter to the next. Some say it means finding someone who could drive up turnout in cities and Democratic strongholds, while others are looking to someone whose policies appeal to moderate swing voters or a candidate that they think can go toe-to-toe with Trump on the debate stage.
That’s still true. But polls and interviews with voters in Iowa show signs of a worrying trend for Democrats backing single-payer health care: voters who fear that Medicare for All will make candidates less electable against Trump, and, perhaps most importantly, rival Democratic campaigns looking to fuel that belief.
The voters who will matter the most in the general election are decidedly negative on Medicare for All. A poll this week of undecided “swing” voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania — states once known as the “blue wall” that tipped hard to Trump in 2016 — found that a large majority of voters think the single-payer health care plan is a “bad idea.” Just 36% of swing voters said Medicare for all was a “good idea.”
And early-state voters are noticing. A poll in the Des Moines Register from September found that 52% of likely caucus-goers in Iowa thought Democratic candidates shouldn’t run on Medicare for All. Twenty-four percent said outright that they thought it was bad policy, but another 28% liked the policy themselves — but opposed it because they feared it could cost Democrats the general election.
-snip-
“It’s long past due that a woman becomes president,” Michaels, who lives in Hiawatha, Iowa, said. “If Warren didn’t have that single-payer thing on her, I would be behind her. I would probably choose her. But I just don’t see that being electable.”
Michaels is retired now, but when he was a member of the Carpenters Local union, his insurance helped him navigate a major health crisis with just a few hundred dollars in copays — insurance he and his union fought for, he said. “People don’t want to give that up.”
-snip-
If the singular issue of Medicare for All becomes increasingly linked with electability — the factor that remains many Democrats’ top priority in the primary — it could spell trouble for Warren, who has already struggled with questions about whether she can beat President Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders, too, has hinged his candidacy on Medicare for All, but has faced less scrutiny — in part because he has run a campaign less focused on broad appeal to moderate voters than Warren has.
-snip-
So far in the primary, the question of what makes a candidate “electable” has varied wildly from one voter to the next. Some say it means finding someone who could drive up turnout in cities and Democratic strongholds, while others are looking to someone whose policies appeal to moderate swing voters or a candidate that they think can go toe-to-toe with Trump on the debate stage.
That’s still true. But polls and interviews with voters in Iowa show signs of a worrying trend for Democrats backing single-payer health care: voters who fear that Medicare for All will make candidates less electable against Trump, and, perhaps most importantly, rival Democratic campaigns looking to fuel that belief.
The voters who will matter the most in the general election are decidedly negative on Medicare for All. A poll this week of undecided “swing” voters in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania — states once known as the “blue wall” that tipped hard to Trump in 2016 — found that a large majority of voters think the single-payer health care plan is a “bad idea.” Just 36% of swing voters said Medicare for all was a “good idea.”
And early-state voters are noticing. A poll in the Des Moines Register from September found that 52% of likely caucus-goers in Iowa thought Democratic candidates shouldn’t run on Medicare for All. Twenty-four percent said outright that they thought it was bad policy, but another 28% liked the policy themselves — but opposed it because they feared it could cost Democrats the general election.
-snip-
Long article, but well worth reading in its entirety.
The article points out that "No one sees more of an opportunity in turning voters against Medicare for All than Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has surged in Iowa."
But there's also a quote from Sherrod Brown (who isn't in favor of MFA) saying he thinks candidates who support MFA now will be able to "evolve" away from MFA by the general election. (I love Sherrod Brown, but I think it's way too late for Warren and Sanders to do that. And I don't think Sanders would even consider it.)
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
15 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Undecided
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Undecided
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Undecided
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
being against, mfa.. I didn't know that.
Thank you, hpd
!
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Undecided
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Undecided
If I were to vote in a presidentialprimary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
