PROGRESSIVE POLICIES ARE POPULAR
From Punchbowl News morning emial newsletter:
As Harris finalizes the critical issue of who her running mate will be, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is pressing the presumptive Democratic nominee to embrace a sweeping progressive agenda during her run for the White House.
Sanders recently commissioned a poll of more than 1,150 voters in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The one-on-one contest between Harris and former President Donald Trump is tied at 49%, which is similar to recent surveys. When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other third–party candidates are added in, Trump leads Harris 46%–45%.
Yet the same poll shows the progressive agenda — much of which was included in Build Back Better and other proposals by Biden, Sanders notes — was overwhelmingly popular. This comes even as the state of the U.S. economy, jobs and inflation, issues on which Trump and Republicans are dominating, are easily the top focus for voters.
“There are not any radical ideas that nobody has ever heard of,” Sanders said in an interview on Sunday to discuss the poll findings.
For instance, the poll shows that increasing taxes on the wealthy is supported by a 71%-27% margin overall. Even Republicans favored it by a 55%-43% majority.
Raising taxes on large corporations was also popular. A full 67% of respondents supported this, compared to 29% who said these companies should pay the same as they are now or less.
And there was very strong backing for increasing the minimum wage, with fully 89% saying the current $7.25 per hour rate needs to be boosted. Raising the rate to $17 per hour was backed by 70% of respondents, the majority of those strongly. The Senate rejected Sanders’ effort to increase the minimum wage to $15 back in March 2021, although many states have boosted it themselves.
Other long-time progressive planks — many of which Sanders has unsuccessfully pushed for years — get a big thumbs up in this poll too. These include expanding Social Security benefits; adding dental, vision and hearing coverage to Medicare; a bigger Child Tax Credit; single-payer health care; eliminating medical debt; building two million “affordable-housing units” and capping rent increases; and free college for all, among other actions.
Interestingly, a solid majority — 57% — also oppose cutting military spending, which Sanders and Hill progressives have long urged.
More from Sanders:
“What I want to make sure — and what this all is about — is to get the point not only to the vice president but to every Democratic candidate that if you run on issues, economic issues of concern to the working class of this country [that] we have ignored for too many years, you can win this election. That’s the main thrust of this poll.”
We’ll note that these progressive initiatives have little if any chance of becoming law due to overwhelming GOP opposition. However, Sanders argued that the polling showed Harris should adopt them as part of her campaign for president.
We also asked Sanders about concerns over inflation, which voters decisively say is their top issue. The progressive agenda would require hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending at a minimum, even as the federal government is already bleeding red ink.
Trump and Republicans have hammered Biden — and now Harris — over inflation and the high cost of living, arguing that the trillions spent under the American Rescue Plan, Inflation Reduction Act and other Democratic proposals set off the biggest surge in prices in more than 40 years.
But Sanders, like many Democrats, counters that the real cause of inflation is Corporate America raising prices in order to boost their bottom line.
“I think the overwhelming economic evidence is that the reason we’ve had inflation in recent years has everything to do with corporate greed,” Sanders said. “Most of the inflation we’re seeing in recent years has to do with record-breaking corporate profits.”
It’s also worth pointing out that some economists say Trump’s agenda would cause higher inflation than anything Democrats have proposed.
Sanders — the leading and loudest progressive voice on Capitol Hill — will be headlining a “Progressives for Harris” organizing call tonight. Other participants include Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), UAW President Shawn Fain and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, as well as a host of others.
Yet Sanders hasn’t formally endorsed Harris either. We asked Sanders about this discrepancy:
“I am working as hard as I can to make sure that Kamala Harris is the next president of the United States and Donald Trump is defeated…
“These are media concerns. The concern I have is that Trump is defeated.”
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Here's the problem, as I see it. All of the pro-working class policies sound like big giveaways, and to a certain extent they are. Touting them is appealing, but the bigger issue, in my mind, is that the real giveaways have been to shareholders and CEOs, as Sanders has pointed out. Those corporate giveaways obtained through market manipulations and price-gouging were the corporate world's response to aid the Biden Administration gave struggling citizens to weather the pandemic and its fallout. These guys always muscle their way to the dining table because it's never enough to fill themselves up at their chef-run kitchens. Bailouts, subsidies, tax breaks, bankruptcy relief, and government contracts are never enough for them if there's any box of cash set aside for working Americans. No, working folks get pushed aside just like Trump pushed aside Montenegro's prime minister at that NATO meeting lest anyone forget who the big cheeses are. I think that's what's been happening, and the message that needs the most reinforcing is that the investor class wants guaranteed profits while the workers are not even guaranteed minimum wage paydays. Say it loud and say it louder. Let them whine about "unseemly" class wars. Let them wave their rags to riches stories. But be quick to point out that in a world of risks, one seldom hears riches to rags stories because the investor class always knows how to protect their wealth. "Capital loss carry forward loophole, anybody?"
Good ol' Bernie, he always comes through for us. I agree that was once thought was "too socialist" is now closer to mainstream. More than anything we need to emphasize the greed of the oligarchs has led directly to the continuing inflation - ONLY - in the necessities of life for those of us with less than a million dollars in our savings accounts. Food, energy, housing. I think having a 'wealth tax' as part of our program will improve the chances of all Democrats, not just Kamala. Nothing is going to bring the magats into our fold, they are committed body and soul to trump BUT don't forget, at the most there are 30 million of them, there's at lest 100 million of us.