Selzer & Co.’s new poll of likely Dem caucus-goers was posted to the Des Moines Register website tonight.
The top two contenders are still Biden & Sanders—same as the December poll—but Sanders is gaining on Biden. In December Biden was at 32 percent and Sanders at 19 percent; today’s published results show Biden at 27 percent and Sanders at 25 percent.
O’Rourke comes in at 11 percent, and Warren at 8 percent. “No other candidate tops 5 percent.” Correction: Those results are from the December DMR poll. This poll shows Harris at 7 percent and O’Rourke at 5 percent.
Aside from a clear majority of Iowan Dems being “very” or “mostly” satisfied with a nominee’s thinking that the country should be more socialist, I found this data point to be surprising:
Eighty-one percent say they hope candidates will spend “a lot” of time talking about health care, and 84 percent say they prefer a candidate who supports shifting to a government-run health care system of Medicare-for-all, either all at once or incrementally. Forty-nine percent of respondents say they prefer a candidate who supports Medicare-for-all “in full,” and 35 percent who endorses it “in steps.”
(emph. added) Another data point:
Eighty percent of poll respondents say candidates should spend “a lot” of time talking about climate change. Ninety-one percent say they prefer a candidate who supports the "Green New Deal," which couples government programs to address climate change with support for jobs in the clean energy sector to help address poverty. That includes 65 percent who favor a candidate who supports the "Green New Deal" in full and 26 percent who favor approaching it in steps.
(emph. added)
So much for “flyover country” being irreparably conservative, and for red-state Dems’ trying to win over GOP voters by being conservative-lite when it comes to issues.
While polls as early as this one provide a gauge of name recognition more than anything else, they also sometimes give us a feel for where voters stand on issues like climate change and healthcare.
Overall, I’m pleased as hell that Iowa Dems are staking out these bold positions. How do you feel about the poll’s results?