KUALA LUMPUR, August 14 — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is planning to focus on Medicare For All, describing health care as the “defining issue” of the 2020 campaign.
Politico reported that the Vermont senator and his team are convinced that his signature proposal for a government-run health insurance system in the United States will be an advantage in overtaking his opponent, Joe Biden.
The former US vice president, who is against Medicare for All, reportedly shares the same supporters as Sanders in certain demographics, especially white voters without a college degree.
“It could be the winning issue for me in the primary, it will be the winning issue for me in the general election.
“I’m campaigning on the legislation that I wrote. As you know, I wrote the damn bill,” Sanders told Politico, referencing his quip from the second Democratic presidential debate.
Primary voters already perceive Sanders as the strongest Democratic candidate on health care, followed by Biden and Elizabeth Warren, Politico reported, citing recent polls by Morning Consult, Reuters-Ipsos, Washington Post-ABC News and CNN. Several surveys reportedly show health care is a top concern for voters.
“Health care is the No. 1 issue with voters, especially Democratic primary voters, and Bernie is the most trusted candidate on health care.
“It became increasingly clear over the last few months, as the campaign talked more and more about it, that health care was a real strength and opportunity for us to focus on. And as a result of doing that, we’ve gained in the polling,” Ben Tulchin, Sanders’ pollster, said in an interview.
His campaigners agree that it is important to seize Sanders’ natural strength at its best, with Nina Turner, a co-chair on the Sanders campaign, saying that Sanders’ team was not ignoring Medicare for All in the primary earlier.
“But it’s his signature issue and he needs to go all in on that, and the polling shows that,” she was quoted saying.
