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Bernie Sanders, unlike other potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, has a message that resonates with a wide variety of people. (Photo: Paul Weaver / Flickr)
Bernie Sanders Is a 2020 Favorite
“For those of us who believe in radically transformative political change, the choice is already clear—Bernie Sanders is the only viable option.”
Dec 19, 2018
The frenzied, two-year countdown to the 2020 presidential election has begun amid photo ops and speculation from cable news talking heads. On the left, support is growing for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a career progressive who has pushed for the rights of the working poor through policies such as Medicare for All and a $15-an-hour minimum wage.
"Voters trust Sanders because he has maintained the same class-struggle message for 40 years," Ben Beckett wrote in Jacobin. "And this leads to the most important reason Sanders must run and the Left must support him: no other candidate has either the desire or the ability to polarize the country along class lines."
"For those of us who believe in radically transformative political change, the choice is already clear - Bernie Sanders is the only viable option," Nathan Robinson, the editor of Current Affairs, wrote in the Guardian.
Sanders' potential competition includes establishment Democrats like Joe Biden--who has been criticized for his treatment of Anita Hill's sexual harassment allegations against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearings in 1991--and Sen. Kamala Harris, who defended the death penalty as California state attorney general. Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke broke a pledge not to accept campaign contributions from fossil fuel companies when he took money from oil and gas executives.
"No other Democrat so consistently names the capitalist class ('the millionaires and billionaires') as the root of the country's problems. While most Democrats take thousands of dollars from big corporations, Sanders not only refuses, but goes out of his way to use his fame to bully them into treating their workers better," Beckett wrote.
Early polls indicate Sanders has a wide support base. Among 1,015 people surveyed in a recent CNN poll, he had approval from 58 percent of non-white voters, 74 percent of people who disapproved of Trump, and 57 percent of respondents age 18 to 34. A poll by progressive PAC Democracy for America found Sanders had the majority of support at 36.14 percent among 94,163 members.
A survey of women of color in politics by advocacy group She the People placed Harris as the top 2020 candidate with 71.1 percent of support. Sanders had 12.1 percent of the respondents' support. But only 256 women responded to the survey, and nearly half of the women surveyed were campaign donors--in other words, insiders who might not buy into Sanders' anti-establishment message. Other women surveyed included current and former elected officials, campaign managers and women who run political organizations.
Nearly half of women who responded to the survey identified as African-American and nearly 40 percent identified as Latinx. A viral tweet by Sanders critic Clara Jeffery, editor-in-chief of the magazine named for famed labor organizer Mother Jones, incorrectly identified the survey as one only among black women.
Robinson argued that while Sanders is not flawless, myths persist throughout the Democratic Party about the demographics of his support base. Robinson wrote:
Attempts to portray Sanders as the candidate of white 'Bernie Bros' ignore the facts--Sanders has higher favorability ratings among people of color than any other Democratic politician. It's obvious that he's the party's best shot. He has a formidable team of experienced organizers, national popularity and name recognition, and a clear, bold agenda that can win over working-class people of all genders and races.
As pundits and voters alike learned in 2016, polls, like Meyers-Briggs tests, horoscopes and tea leaf readings, only project an illusion of certainty in a chaotic world. The 2020 race is nowhere near finished.
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. US voters have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. If you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
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Naomi Lachance
Naomi LaChance has written for local newspapers such as the Berkshire Eagle and the Poughkeepsie Journal as well as national outlets including NPR, the Intercept, TYT Network, and the Huffington Post. Her articles have also appeared in the New England Center for Investigative Reporting and Dame Magazine. She is interested in institutional corruption, ideological hypocrisy, and labor rights. Currently living in Washington, D.C., she graduated from Bard College in 2016 with a degree in nonfiction writing and historical studies.
The frenzied, two-year countdown to the 2020 presidential election has begun amid photo ops and speculation from cable news talking heads. On the left, support is growing for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a career progressive who has pushed for the rights of the working poor through policies such as Medicare for All and a $15-an-hour minimum wage.
"Voters trust Sanders because he has maintained the same class-struggle message for 40 years," Ben Beckett wrote in Jacobin. "And this leads to the most important reason Sanders must run and the Left must support him: no other candidate has either the desire or the ability to polarize the country along class lines."
"For those of us who believe in radically transformative political change, the choice is already clear - Bernie Sanders is the only viable option," Nathan Robinson, the editor of Current Affairs, wrote in the Guardian.
Sanders' potential competition includes establishment Democrats like Joe Biden--who has been criticized for his treatment of Anita Hill's sexual harassment allegations against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearings in 1991--and Sen. Kamala Harris, who defended the death penalty as California state attorney general. Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke broke a pledge not to accept campaign contributions from fossil fuel companies when he took money from oil and gas executives.
"No other Democrat so consistently names the capitalist class ('the millionaires and billionaires') as the root of the country's problems. While most Democrats take thousands of dollars from big corporations, Sanders not only refuses, but goes out of his way to use his fame to bully them into treating their workers better," Beckett wrote.
Early polls indicate Sanders has a wide support base. Among 1,015 people surveyed in a recent CNN poll, he had approval from 58 percent of non-white voters, 74 percent of people who disapproved of Trump, and 57 percent of respondents age 18 to 34. A poll by progressive PAC Democracy for America found Sanders had the majority of support at 36.14 percent among 94,163 members.
A survey of women of color in politics by advocacy group She the People placed Harris as the top 2020 candidate with 71.1 percent of support. Sanders had 12.1 percent of the respondents' support. But only 256 women responded to the survey, and nearly half of the women surveyed were campaign donors--in other words, insiders who might not buy into Sanders' anti-establishment message. Other women surveyed included current and former elected officials, campaign managers and women who run political organizations.
Nearly half of women who responded to the survey identified as African-American and nearly 40 percent identified as Latinx. A viral tweet by Sanders critic Clara Jeffery, editor-in-chief of the magazine named for famed labor organizer Mother Jones, incorrectly identified the survey as one only among black women.
Robinson argued that while Sanders is not flawless, myths persist throughout the Democratic Party about the demographics of his support base. Robinson wrote:
Attempts to portray Sanders as the candidate of white 'Bernie Bros' ignore the facts--Sanders has higher favorability ratings among people of color than any other Democratic politician. It's obvious that he's the party's best shot. He has a formidable team of experienced organizers, national popularity and name recognition, and a clear, bold agenda that can win over working-class people of all genders and races.
As pundits and voters alike learned in 2016, polls, like Meyers-Briggs tests, horoscopes and tea leaf readings, only project an illusion of certainty in a chaotic world. The 2020 race is nowhere near finished.
Naomi Lachance
Naomi LaChance has written for local newspapers such as the Berkshire Eagle and the Poughkeepsie Journal as well as national outlets including NPR, the Intercept, TYT Network, and the Huffington Post. Her articles have also appeared in the New England Center for Investigative Reporting and Dame Magazine. She is interested in institutional corruption, ideological hypocrisy, and labor rights. Currently living in Washington, D.C., she graduated from Bard College in 2016 with a degree in nonfiction writing and historical studies.
The frenzied, two-year countdown to the 2020 presidential election has begun amid photo ops and speculation from cable news talking heads. On the left, support is growing for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a career progressive who has pushed for the rights of the working poor through policies such as Medicare for All and a $15-an-hour minimum wage.
"Voters trust Sanders because he has maintained the same class-struggle message for 40 years," Ben Beckett wrote in Jacobin. "And this leads to the most important reason Sanders must run and the Left must support him: no other candidate has either the desire or the ability to polarize the country along class lines."
"For those of us who believe in radically transformative political change, the choice is already clear - Bernie Sanders is the only viable option," Nathan Robinson, the editor of Current Affairs, wrote in the Guardian.
Sanders' potential competition includes establishment Democrats like Joe Biden--who has been criticized for his treatment of Anita Hill's sexual harassment allegations against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearings in 1991--and Sen. Kamala Harris, who defended the death penalty as California state attorney general. Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke broke a pledge not to accept campaign contributions from fossil fuel companies when he took money from oil and gas executives.
"No other Democrat so consistently names the capitalist class ('the millionaires and billionaires') as the root of the country's problems. While most Democrats take thousands of dollars from big corporations, Sanders not only refuses, but goes out of his way to use his fame to bully them into treating their workers better," Beckett wrote.
Early polls indicate Sanders has a wide support base. Among 1,015 people surveyed in a recent CNN poll, he had approval from 58 percent of non-white voters, 74 percent of people who disapproved of Trump, and 57 percent of respondents age 18 to 34. A poll by progressive PAC Democracy for America found Sanders had the majority of support at 36.14 percent among 94,163 members.
A survey of women of color in politics by advocacy group She the People placed Harris as the top 2020 candidate with 71.1 percent of support. Sanders had 12.1 percent of the respondents' support. But only 256 women responded to the survey, and nearly half of the women surveyed were campaign donors--in other words, insiders who might not buy into Sanders' anti-establishment message. Other women surveyed included current and former elected officials, campaign managers and women who run political organizations.
Nearly half of women who responded to the survey identified as African-American and nearly 40 percent identified as Latinx. A viral tweet by Sanders critic Clara Jeffery, editor-in-chief of the magazine named for famed labor organizer Mother Jones, incorrectly identified the survey as one only among black women.
Robinson argued that while Sanders is not flawless, myths persist throughout the Democratic Party about the demographics of his support base. Robinson wrote:
Attempts to portray Sanders as the candidate of white 'Bernie Bros' ignore the facts--Sanders has higher favorability ratings among people of color than any other Democratic politician. It's obvious that he's the party's best shot. He has a formidable team of experienced organizers, national popularity and name recognition, and a clear, bold agenda that can win over working-class people of all genders and races.
As pundits and voters alike learned in 2016, polls, like Meyers-Briggs tests, horoscopes and tea leaf readings, only project an illusion of certainty in a chaotic world. The 2020 race is nowhere near finished.
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