| Proxy-Pie said: Not an American, but damn please don't let Harris be the nominee. |
I'll make myself the third person to request a follow-up commentary on this: why do you feel that way about Kamala Harris?
I ask because she generates relative apathy from me. I'd vote for her for sure if she were the Democratic nominee, but she wouldn't be my first or second choice. That's mostly just because I like Elizabeth Warren's ideas (and presentation) around college debt forgiveness and trust-busting a lot better, and the fact that Warren refuses to take corporate donations or attend high-dollar fundraisers helps her too in my eyes. Above all though, Elizabeth Warren stands out the most to me for her proposal to ensure that at least 40% of corporate board members are democratically elected by the workers they employ. But the truth is that Warren, though my preference, strikes me as unlikely to win the presidency precisely because a number of the views that she holds, like her taxation policies and college debt forgiveness plans, actually poll underwater among the general public. Single-payer health care, which she advocates, also polls at about 20 to 30% public support right now.
Digging into the health care policy preferences for a minute since that's currently the top issue on the minds of voters according to our recent survey data, 55-60% of Americans also regularly poll in favor of "Medicare for all" or in favor of "government-provided health insurance for all" or however the individual survey words it. People clearly sense a difference between that idea and single-payer health care, which polls only about half as well. What I get from that polling data is that most Americans want Medicare to be made an additional option for everybody, but aren't necessarily convinced it should be the only option allowed. People are in favor of more health care options, not fewer options. That's what I get out of the polling data on the subject.
Does that mean I agree with public opinion on this subject? Not at all. I favor a fully socialized system of medicine that covers more things than Medicare currently does, as that would guarantee every doctor would have to accept the national health policy, drastically reduce prescription drug prices, and streamline the whole health care system (including for veterans!) in a way that maximizes access and minimizes administrative costs. The candidates proposing a single-payer insurance system come the closest to this approach. I'm not a slave to polls. But I would also be more than happy to simply move in the right direction on this issue: to start out by making Medicare an option for everyone. We can move forward with the debate from there, I think, but we need to have that happen. (Biden's health care plan, for example, doesn't cut it.)
ANYWAY, there's an art to persuasion and Warren can be persuasive, but the edge when it comes to ideas matching polling data in a Warren-vs.-Harris situation would most naturally go to Harris. It would be left of Biden, but right of Warren. For this sort of reason, I think Harris is probably the single most electable candidate in the Democratic field in reality.
Kirsten Gillibrand would be my second choice, but I think realistically her campaign is all but over and that she'll drop out soon after the next debate. It's really her last chance to break out.
Last edited by Jaicee - on 24 July 2019
