The policies that likely Iowa Democratic caucus-goers want candidates to support are abundantly clear — the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and legal marijuana.
With the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination already underway, several prominent candidates like Senators Kamala Harris (D-California), Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) have already made trips to Iowa to court voters. As the very first presidential caucus, Iowa plays a pivotal role in deciding which candidates have a future in the coming primaries, and which candidates will go home.
Des Moines, Iowa polling outfit Selzer & Co recently conducted a survey of likely Democratic caucus-goers — not just about who voters are excited about, but what policies voters want candidates to put forth. And according to the poll, voters are most excited about the Green New Deal, with 91 percent supporting the proposal to phase out dependency on fossil fuels and make large investments of public dollars in the renewable energy sector.
84 percent of those polled favor Medicare for All, which would replace the private health insurance market to institute a single-payer healthcare system. 77 percent of respondents want to see marijuana legalized for recreational use nationwide, following successful examples in multiple states like California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington state, and other states. 76 percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers want tuition-free public college, and 89 percent support Sen. Warren’s idea to tax net worths of $50 million or more.
Also in this new Iowa poll of likely Dem caucusgoers:
– 84% prefer a candidate who supports Medicare for All.
– 91% want one who backs Green New Deal.
– 77% favor candidate who wants to legalize marijuana.— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald)
Among all current and likely candidates, former Vice President Joe Biden is on top, with 27 percent support. Sen. Sanders is close behind with 25 percent, and Sens. Warren and Harris are in third and fourth place, respectively, with nine percent and seven percent support.
However, as the Des Moines Register noted, Biden is trending downward while Sanders is trending upward, meaning the Vermont senator could potentially overtake Obama’s vice president in coming polls. Biden previously had 32 percent in a December poll, and Sanders had just 19 percent support.