Will Healthcare be the biggest issue in the Democratic primaries?

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Supporting single payer is definitely the biggest issue for the Bernie wing. Even more moderate candidates like Kamala Harris have come out in favor of Medicare For All.

[7,052,770]

Supporting single payer is definitely the biggest issue for the Bernie wing. Even more moderate candidates like Kamala Harris have come out in favor of Medicare For All.

...
...

Are you trolling or just that clueless?

[Mr. Morden]

Well, the most commonly hyped names among the 2020 Dems are all supporting the Medicare for all bill, except for Biden.  So I guess the question is, will any candidates in the race who are capable of polling above an asterisk end up *not* supporting it?  If the leading candidates all agree on an issue, then it's harder to make it the top issue.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Supporting single payer is definitely the biggest issue for the Bernie wing. Even more moderate candidates like Kamala Harris have come out in favor of Medicare For All.

...
...

Are you trolling or just that clueless?

Are you mentally handicapped or do you not realize that Kamala Harris is more moderate than the Bernie wing?

[Politician]

No, there will be no single issue defining 2020.

[NeverAgain]

No, there will be no single issue defining 2020.

[DevinM626]

It will be one of the biggest issues, but maybe not the biggest.

[Progressive Pessimist]

No, there will be no single issue defining 2020.

Like 2016 it is probably going to be an election based primarily off of character, personality, and other shallow things but with some Trump referendum rhetoric thrown in. Nearly all challenges to an incumbent are a referendum on that said incumbent.

[7,052,770]

Supporting single payer is definitely the biggest issue for the Bernie wing. Even more moderate candidates like Kamala Harris have come out in favor of Medicare For All.

...
...

Are you trolling or just that clueless?

Are you mentally handicapped or do you not realize that Kamala Harris is more moderate than the Bernie wing?

Harris is consistently ranked as one of the absolute most progressive senators by every ranking system out there, sometimes as high as #1. She's not just in the Bernie wing, she's one of the most progressive members of it.

[Fuzzy Says: "Abolish NPR!"]

The biggest issue for the Democrats will be "Who can crush Trump the most thoroughly?".

Win today, enact tomorrow.

[Mr. Morden]

The biggest issue for the Democrats will be "Who can crush Trump the most thoroughly?".

Right, but I think voters aren't necessarily all that great at assessing electability.  They often just think that whichever candidate they personally like must be the most electable.  Or else they might think that whoever's winning in the primary is by definition the most electable, or something like that.

[NOVA Green]

Wouldn't go that far YET, but if we look at the overall national political environment, it is starting to appear the Anglo Seniors, which accounted for the largest chunk of the Trump Base, are starting to swing hard against Trump's failed promises on Health Care services, and additionally are a major part of the rapidly increasing support for "Obamacare" / Affordable Care Act...

We are already seeing the results of this backlash against "Trumpcare" from Senior Citizens in Special Election results from AZ CD-08, AL-SEN, and PA-18., just to throw out a few of the most obvious data from precinct level results....

Clearly, the collapse of support for Trump among Senior Voters on this issue will likely play a major role in the 2018 General Election....

2020 is still a long time away from an electoral perspective, but still DEM PRES PRIM season should be kicking off sometime over the next 6-9 months, and it would obviously be foolish for any DEM candidate to not push hard on Health Care as a Trump "Compare/Contrast" model, especially considering the broken promises that Candidate Trump made to Seniors during the '16 Republican Primary and GE.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Supporting single payer is definitely the biggest issue for the Bernie wing. Even more moderate candidates like Kamala Harris have come out in favor of Medicare For All.

...
...

Are you trolling or just that clueless?

Are you mentally handicapped or do you not realize that Kamala Harris is more moderate than the Bernie wing?

Harris is consistently ranked as one of the absolute most progressive senators by every ranking system out there, sometimes as high as #1. She's not just in the Bernie wing, she's one of the most progressive members of it.

I don't what rankings you are referring to, but the word progressive means different things to different people. And LOL at referring to the woman who refused to prosecute Steve Mnuchin and called for weaker body camera regulations as part of the Bernie wing. Her half hearted endorsements of progressive ideas on healthcare and college (which she never mentions again after the initial photo op) don't make her a genuine progressive.

[RINO Tom]

DEM PRES PRIM season should be kicking off sometime over the next 6-9 months

Oh Jesus this just hit me on how close we are to the next presidential cycle.

Pro: Trump might not be President soon.

Con: The opinionated geniuses will become even more annoying than they are now quite soon. :/

[7,052,770]

I don't what rankings you are referring to, but the word progressive means different things to different people. And LOL at referring to the woman who refused to prosecute Steve Mnuchin and called for weaker body camera regulations as part of the Bernie wing. Her half hearted endorsements of progressive ideas on healthcare and college (which she never mentions again after the initial photo op) don't make her a genuine progressive.

Cherry pick single issues if you want, but every ranking system out there that aggregates all of politicians' positions have Harris at the far left of U.S. Senators. I trust actual data way more than random Atlas posters' feelings, that's for sure.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

I don't what rankings you are referring to, but the word progressive means different things to different people. And LOL at referring to the woman who refused to prosecute Steve Mnuchin and called for weaker body camera regulations as part of the Bernie wing. Her half hearted endorsements of progressive ideas on healthcare and college (which she never mentions again after the initial photo op) don't make her a genuine progressive.

Cherry pick single issues if you want, but every ranking system out there that aggregates all of politicians' positions have Harris at the far left of U.S. Senators. I trust actual data way more than random Atlas posters' feelings, that's for sure.

Once again, you have to define far left. I see no evidence whatsoever that she belongs in the Bernie wing, nor have I seen anyone associate her with it. The Bernie wing doesn't refer to those who take the "far left" position on most issues, for example Bernie is more moderate on guns than many Democratic Senators.

It's a part of the party focused on very specific issues, such as getting money out of politics, ending foreign intervention, making healthcare and college a right. Kamala just recently said "it depends" on whether she would take corporate money, then had to backtrack after the backlash. She's not in the Bernie wing.

[Sadader]

I think so, It seems to have a consistent (but slim) plurality (at 25% or so) as the most important issue to Dem congressional primary voters, and it’s probably the most important reform that any Dem president will be able to make any time soon (aside from perhaps immigration, but I doubt that’ll have as much traction). I can’t see any other single issue having as much stress put on it (“the economy and jobs” doesn’t count).

On a side note, I really doubt it’ll be at all possible for any Dem to push through single payer (or any meaningful healthcare reform) without going for the Senate constitutional option (along with a hefty pickup in 2020), so will any candidates openly go for changing the rule?

[7,052,770]

I don't what rankings you are referring to, but the word progressive means different things to different people. And LOL at referring to the woman who refused to prosecute Steve Mnuchin and called for weaker body camera regulations as part of the Bernie wing. Her half hearted endorsements of progressive ideas on healthcare and college (which she never mentions again after the initial photo op) don't make her a genuine progressive.

Cherry pick single issues if you want, but every ranking system out there that aggregates all of politicians' positions have Harris at the far left of U.S. Senators. I trust actual data way more than random Atlas posters' feelings, that's for sure.

Once again, you have to define far left. I see no evidence whatsoever that she belongs in the Bernie wing, nor have I seen anyone associate her with it. The Bernie wing doesn't refer to those who take the "far left" position on most issues, for example Bernie is more moderate on guns than many Democratic Senators.

It's a part of the party focused on very specific issues, such as getting money out of politics, ending foreign intervention, making healthcare and college a right. Kamala just recently said "it depends" on whether she would take corporate money, then had to backtrack after the backlash. She's not in the Bernie wing.

Harris agrees with Bernie on all 4 of those issues, and Bernie agrees with her on guns.

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

I don't what rankings you are referring to, but the word progressive means different things to different people. And LOL at referring to the woman who refused to prosecute Steve Mnuchin and called for weaker body camera regulations as part of the Bernie wing. Her half hearted endorsements of progressive ideas on healthcare and college (which she never mentions again after the initial photo op) don't make her a genuine progressive.

Cherry pick single issues if you want, but every ranking system out there that aggregates all of politicians' positions have Harris at the far left of U.S. Senators. I trust actual data way more than random Atlas posters' feelings, that's for sure.

Once again, you have to define far left. I see no evidence whatsoever that she belongs in the Bernie wing, nor have I seen anyone associate her with it. The Bernie wing doesn't refer to those who take the "far left" position on most issues, for example Bernie is more moderate on guns than many Democratic Senators.

It's a part of the party focused on very specific issues, such as getting money out of politics, ending foreign intervention, making healthcare and college a right. Kamala just recently said "it depends" on whether she would take corporate money, then had to backtrack after the backlash. She's not in the Bernie wing.

Harris agrees with Bernie on all 4 of those issues, and Bernie agrees with her on guns.

So Harris saying it depends on whether she'll take corporate cash, then backtracking once she receives backlash means she's part of the Bernie wing? No, it means she backed down into supporting it on this issue, just like her hollow one time endorsements of Medicare For All and free college are nothing but pandering.

My point on guns was that it's not a core issue of the wing, therefore someone taking an extreme leftist position on it wouldn't make them a part of it. The Bernie wing doesn't simply refer to "far left". If you think Kamala Harris is part of the Bernie wing, let alone one of the most progressive members of it you're in for a nasty surprise in the 2020 primaries.

[7,052,770]

I don't "think" anything about whether Harris is a hardcore progressive or a Blue Dog, nor do I particularly care. I probably won't vote for her in the primaries, although I reserve the right to, and since I'm not a self-centered brat, I'll be voting for the Democratic nominee no matter what.

All I'm saying is that every statistical analysis out there places her as one of the most liberal/progressive Senators (as high as #1 on Progressive Punch), as well as consistently right next to Bernie. If you're looking for a current senator or presidential candidate to declare as a moderate in opposition to the "Bernie wing," Harris is a particularly poor choice.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ideological+rankings+of+u+s+senators

[henster]

They will need to start to differentiate on health care instead of single payer, someone will push for multi-payer/public-private system to appeal to moderates. I think there needs to be a serious debate on how it will be funded.

[NevadanAtHeart]

I don't what rankings you are referring to, but the word progressive means different things to different people. And LOL at referring to the woman who refused to prosecute Steve Mnuchin and called for weaker body camera regulations as part of the Bernie wing. Her half hearted endorsements of progressive ideas on healthcare and college (which she never mentions again after the initial photo op) don't make her a genuine progressive.

Cherry pick single issues if you want, but every ranking system out there that aggregates all of politicians' positions have Harris at the far left of U.S. Senators. I trust actual data way more than random Atlas posters' feelings, that's for sure.

Aren't DW-Nominate scores and the like based on numbers of yeas/nays relative to partisan skews? So if Harris overwhelmingly votes against Trump/GOP (which she does), she'd have a high aggregate "liberal" score. That doesn't mean that the things she's actually voting on are particularly far left.

There are probably other scoring systems that do this "better", but the same general critique applies to everything that relies on a spatial model of political behavior - who's to say what's more liberal of, say, the healthcare systems of Switzerland, Canada, and France? How do you quantify that?

TL;DR: Boiling down lawmakers' (or voters') political beliefs into an ideal point isn't a good indicator of anything IMO

[7,052,770]

I don't what rankings you are referring to, but the word progressive means different things to different people. And LOL at referring to the woman who refused to prosecute Steve Mnuchin and called for weaker body camera regulations as part of the Bernie wing. Her half hearted endorsements of progressive ideas on healthcare and college (which she never mentions again after the initial photo op) don't make her a genuine progressive.

Cherry pick single issues if you want, but every ranking system out there that aggregates all of politicians' positions have Harris at the far left of U.S. Senators. I trust actual data way more than random Atlas posters' feelings, that's for sure.

Aren't DW-Nominate scores and the like based on numbers of yeas/nays relative to partisan skews? So if Harris overwhelmingly votes against Trump/GOP (which she does), she'd have a high aggregate "liberal" score. That doesn't mean that the things she's actually voting on are particularly far left.

There are probably other scoring systems that do this "better", but the same general critique applies to everything that relies on a spatial model of political behavior - who's to say what's more liberal of, say, the healthcare systems of Switzerland, Canada, and France? How do you quantify that?

TL;DR: Boiling down lawmakers' (or voters') political beliefs into an ideal point isn't a good indicator of anything IMO

There are a lot of different methods out there, some like you described and some not. I'm not insisting that Harris has to be #1 like Progressive Punch says or anything like that -- I just took great issue with the OP deciding to namedrop Kamala Harris of all people as a "moderate" in opposition to Bernie when every piece of objective data out there says she has a voting record very similar to his.

It's fine for the OP or whoever else not to like her. (As long as they do some introspection and make sure that implicit gender racial bias are not driving their opinion.) But labeling her as something she's not is out of line.

[Sherrod Brown Shill]

Pretty much everyone, spare for maybe McAullife or Biden if he runs, will be supporting Medicare For All, so no.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

No, voters will care more about social issues.