Candidates’ Positions: 2020 Democratic Candidates

Author: | Category: Democrats | Republicans | Date: 11-29-2019

Candidates and their POSITIONS:  Top 5 in 2020 Democratic Field  

Summer  2019;  Most of the latest polls rank the top 10 Democratic candidates in more or less the same order as listed below: Note that at this early date, it is impossible to tell who will be on top by the time the primaries are in full swing next year.

We are featuring  the key proposed policies of the top 5 candidates.  For the rest, we provide links to their websites.

  1. Joe Biden
  2. Bernie Sanders
  3. Elizabeth Warren
  4. Kamala Harris
  5. Pete Buttigieg
  6. Cory Booker
  7. Amy Klobuchar
  8. Andrew Yang
  9. Stephen Bullock

For a summary of each candidate’s distinctive characteristics, signature policy, signature apology, etc., read this article in Rolling Stone magazine (more)

 

Joe Biden: Basic Positions

joe bidenLatest Policy Proposals
https://joebiden.com/joes-vision/
•    $15 minimum wage proposal 
•    Higher taxes on investment income
•    No tuition for students at public colleges and universities, 
•    Major infrastructure overhaul

Vulnerabilities: Biden has a lot of baggage because of his long history as a senator and Obama’s Vice President:  

  1. He was a strong supporter of the banking industry  
  2. He supported the 1994 crime bill that many say contributed to a new era of mass incarceration,
  3. He supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003.  
  4. He voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, which discriminated against same-sex couples.
  5. He has been classified by liberals as a “Wall Street democrat. “ Here is an interesting op-ed piece by Roger Cohen  that labels Biden as part of the “Davos” crowd (international globalization elite)

Biden and the Party of Davos - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/03/opinion/joe-biden.html.   

Pundits have opined that the reason Biden is still no. 1 in polls is because people view him as the most “electable” candidate, given his moderate views, the fact that he is a white male, his seeming appeal to working class whites, and African Americans because he is associated with Barack Obama. But as history has shown, polls this early in the primaries say very little about who the eventual candidate will be.

 

Bernie Sanders: Basic Positionsbernie-sanders

Does not accept big donors’ money in the primaries

Latest Policy Proposals
https://berniesanders.com/issues/

  • Medicare for All
  • Tuition-free public colleges/universities
  • Reduce income inequality through the following:
  • Raise the minimum wage to a living wage of at least $15 an hour.
  • Enact a universal childcare and pre-kindergarten program.
  • Make sure women and men are paid the same wage for the same job through the Paycheck Fairness Act.
  • Guarantee all workers paid family and medical leave, paid sick leave and paid vacation.
  • Make it easier for workers to join unions through the Workplace Democracy Act.
  • Make quality education a right.
  • Implement a green jobs program.
  • Fight for LBGTQ Equality
  • Combat Climate Change and Pass a Green New Deal
  • Gun Safety
  • Expand Social Security Benefits
  • Demand that Wall Street, Corporations and the Rich Pay their Fair Share of Taxes
  • Supports Green New Deal

Vulnerabilities:  Bernie’s support among Americans of color has always been relatively weak, but this time around his real challenge arises from the fact that many of the candidates in the Dem field have adopted versions of his signature policy proposals—Medicare for All;  $15 minimum wage;  free college, etc.

 

Elizabeth Warren:  Basic Positions  Elizabeth-Warren

Does not accept big donors’ money in the primaries.

Latest Policy Proposals
https://elizabethwarren.com/plans

  • Supports Medicare-for-All (just delineated specifics)
  • Break Up Big Tech’s Monopolies (a driver of extreme income inequality). 
  • Rebuild the Middle Class
    • Ultra Millionaire Tax:  taxes the wealth of the richest Americans. It applies only to households with a net worth of $50 million or more—roughly the wealthiest 75,000 households, or the top 0.1%. Households would pay an annual 2% tax on every dollar of net worth above $50 million and a 3% tax on every dollar of net worth above $1 billion. 
    • Letting workers elect at least 40% of a company’s board members to give them a powerful voice in decisions about wages and outsourcing.
    • Strong anti-trust enforcement so giant corporations can’t stifle competition, depress wages, and drive up the cost of products.
  • End Washington Corruption:  
    • End lobbying as we know it by closing loopholes, so everyone who lobbies must register, shining  sunlight on their activities/
    • Ban foreign  governments from hiring Washington lobbyists
    • Shut down the ability of lobbyists to move freely in and out of government jobs.
  • Strengthen Our Democracy:
    • Pass a constitutional amendment to protect the right of every American citizen to vote and to have that vote counted.
  • Supports Green New Deal
  • Eliminate unnecessary and unjustified rules that make voting more difficult, and overturn every single voter suppression rule that racist politicians use to steal votes from people of color.
  • Ban partisan gerrymandering
  • Overturn Citizens United to prevent Big Money from influencing elections.
  • Hold foreign governments accountable when they interfere in our elections.
  • Constrain those who seek to weaponize hatred and bigotry in order to divide us.

Vulnerabilities:  While Warren’s longstanding progressive credentials are impeccable, not enough support among people of color is one major weakness for Warren.  Another vulnerability stems from what some pundits view as the disadvantages of being a woman.  Some say she might not be able to overcome the entrenched sexism that still exists in America.  The last one has to do with her progressivism—some say that moderates and independents will not vote for her. The conservatives-generated flap about her “Indian” heritage will probably not play a role in diminishing her stature.

 

Kamala Harris:  Basic PositionsKamala-Harris

Latest Policy Proposals
https://www.politico.com/2020-election/candidates-views-on-the-issues/kamala-harris/

  • Medicare for All  (no specifics yet but believes in a “staged” approach that stretches over 10 years, one that would allow private health insurance companies to continue to play a role)
  • $2.8 trillion middle-class tax plan.  tax plan for middle- and working-class families, and it will be a centerpiece of her presidential campaign, her aides said. The federal government would pay tax credits that match a person’s earnings up to $3,000 (or $6,000 for married couples). Those credits would phase out for higher earners, and would not benefit Americans with no earnings. The program would be funded  by eliminating the parts of the Republican tax law passed last fall that benefits the rich, as well as levying a new tax on large financial institutions.
  • Rental Relief:  Give tax credits to renters who make less than $100,000 a year but spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent.  The size of the benefit increases for poorer families and decreases higher up the income distribution
  • Reforming cash bail:  The current cash bail system disproportionately jails poor Americans who cannot make cash bail payments.  As a senator, Harris has already proposed a three-year $10 million grant program to encourage states to figure out how to find alternatives to their cash bail systems.

Vulnerabilities: Harris’s vulnerabilities include the following: Some say that as a woman of color, expect that racists and sexists will not vote for her. That’s not all, her progressive credentials have been questioned because of her “conservative” track record when she was SF district attorney and the CA attorney general. For example: as attorney general, Harris opposed a bill requiring her office to investigate shootings involving police officers. Her office fought a proposed parole program that would release prisoners early if they served half their sentences, arguing that “prisons would lose an important labor pool.”  Harris also supported using prison labor to fight forest fires.  Declined to take a stance on the Green New Deal.  Both Harris and Feinstein voted present when the Green New Deal came up for a vote in the Senate.

 

Pete Buttigieg:  Basic PositionsPete-Buttigieg

Latest Policy Proposals
https://www.politico.com/2020-election/candidates-views-on-the-issues/pete-buttigieg/

  • Gun Control:  Supports background checks and age restrictions.
  • Healthcare:  Supports single payer system for no details yet.
  • LGBTQ Equality:  A gay person himself,  Buttigieg—who married his husband, Chasten Glezman, last year—supports the Federal Equality Act, a proposed amendment which would expand the 1964 Civil Rights Act so that non-discrimination protections would apply to the LGBTQ communit.
  • Immigration:  Supports DACA and legislation that would create a pathway towards citizenship for young, undocumented immigrants. 
  • Supports Green New Deal

Vulnerabilities:  Increasingly seen as a moderate democrat, Mayor Pete is very light on specific policy proposals, preferring to rely on “storytelling” for his appeal (see New York Times article).  This indicates that he believes that image, impressive  rhetoric, Ivy League credentials, and subliminal projections of an appealing persona are sufficient to catapult him to the front ranks of the democratic field, the lack of substance notwithstanding.  Other vulnerabilities include his obvious lack of accomplishments and experience, lack of support among people of color, and very tepid support among progressives.  

For a summary of each candidate’s distinctive characteristics, signature policy, signature apology, etc., read this article in Rolling Stone magazine.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/2020-democrat-candidates-771735/

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