Bernie Sanders leads Donald Trump in polls, even when you remind people he's a socialist
Socialism is unpopular, but Americas leading socialist isnt.
By Matthew Yglesias
Jan 31, 2020, 9:30am EST
Excerpt:
The poll: Calling Sanders a socialist doesnt change much
Data for Progress used the Lucid survey sampling platform to test three different versions of a Sanders and Trump polling matchup question. The survey was in the field from January 9 to January 19 of 2020 and ran these three polls:
No information: If the 2020 U.S. Presidential election was held today, who would you vote for if the candidates were Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump?
Partisan cues: If the 2020 U.S. Presidential election was held today, who would you vote for if the candidates were Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republican Donald Trump?
Socialists and billionaires: If the 2020 U.S. Presidential election was held today, who would you vote for if the candidates were Democrat Bernie Sanders, who wants to tax the billionaire class to help the working class and Republican Donald Trump, who says Sanders is a socialist who supports a government takeover of healthcare and open borders?
In all three versions, Bernie beats Trump, albeit by slightly different margins. Sanders does best in the version of the question that provides no information at all. Giving the candidates their partisan labels increases Sanderss lead somewhat, and giving the hypothetical messages leaves Sanders with a lead thats somewhere in between the two other scenarios.
https://www.vox.com/2020/1/31/21113780/bernie-sanders-socialism-electability-primaries