Jaicee said:
Current polling on the issues indicates that most Americans are pretty much aligned with Bernie Sanders on economic policy. Specifically, most of the public supports the Green New Deal, some form of Medicare-for-all (specifically, Sanders is starting to win the argument in favor of a single-payer system, as I've pointed out before), tuition-free college, and a $15/hour minimum wage. Those are all mainstream positions in today's America. Conversely though, the public is more moderate than the progressive Democrats on social policy. The general public broadly supports same-sex marriage, but believes that abortion is immoral and should only be legal in the first trimester. Similarly, opinion polling consistently suggests that the public broadly opposes Trump's border wall, supports the introduction of a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and believes that immigrants are fundamentally good for the country. However, the polling also indicates that the public is, conversely, broadly against affording undocumented immigrants with access to taxpayer-funded programs of social uplift like Medicare and Medicaid, and certainly opposes abolishing ICE. (The Latino community has a different opinion on some of those things, but I'm talking public opinion in the country overall.) Also, 60% of Americans support the death penalty. Now: Consider that Elizabeth Warren is literally hopping with excitement for unisex prisons. Consider that Bernie Sanders believes that the Boston Marathon bomber should have the right to vote. Consider that both Warren and Sanders have expressed openness to legalizing brothels in the course of this campaign. Do these sound like mainstream opinions to you? (Spoiler: only 37% of Americans consider pornography to be morally acceptable; it's less popular than abortion. How do you think the public feels about formal prostitution?) My point is that, yes, these candidates, both of them, definitely embrace some views that could be considered left of where the general consensus is. The ideas highlighted in the paragraph immediately preceding this one (unisex prisons, voting rights for convicted terrorists, legalizing brothels) qualify as left of where I stand, let alone of where Jane and Joe Average Americans are. These things said, the public, including me, is also broadly willing to vote for somebody who doesn't agree with them on just everything so long as that candidate is perceived as more aligned with their views and interests than the alternative(s) overall. To that end, whoever the eventual Democratic nominee is can afford to take some positions that are left of overall public opinion here and there. My point though is that there's no question in my mind that these are both left wing candidates. It's silly of anyone to suggest otherwise. |
Given the trend in 2018, would you say a Sanders ticket would complicate efforts to flip the Texas State Legislature?
