Is The Democratic Party The Party Of Medicare-For-All? Or The Party Of PAYGO?

PAYGO doesn't preclude impeachment, but it does preclude Medicare-for-All. There is virtually no support among Democratic voters for PAYGO... other than, perhaps, some of Pelosi's big donors. And yet... in her top 3 priorities if the Democrats win the House in November... PAYGO. But no Medicare for All. A majority of Democrats in the House have signed on as co-sponsors of Medicare-for-All-- even some New Dems and Blue Dogs from the Republican wing of the party who represent overwhelmingly blue districts and knew they'd better (like Lou Correa, Vicente Gonzalez, Darren Soto, Adam Smith, Jim Cooper, Al Lawson, Adam Schiff, Sanford Bishop, Filemon Vela... even Joe Crowley). Despite warnings from the DCCC not to, lots of Democratic candidates are running on Medicare-for-All and here are a dozen campaigning on a platform that includes signing on as co-sponsors as soon as they are sworn in in January.

But Pelosi doesn't seem to get it. Or doesn't want to get it. She really needs to watch this week's Samantha Bee show. There's a short clip of part of it above that was made for Nancy. And a little Twitter snap poll from Friday morning:

Being more popular than Trump isn't enough. Democratic voters are starting to catch on to this whole lesser-of-two evils debacle and how it prevents progress for working families. Most Democratic voters are still willing to give the Democratic establishment the benefit of the doubt-- especially with a Trump looming over us-- but that isn't going to last for ever. And it's already starting to fray around the edges.

Very nice that an RNC poll shows Pelosi more popular than Trump among voters-- and even among independent voters... but PAYGO isn't the reason. This-- none of which is on Pelosi's to-do list-- is what voters say they want and what many of them expect from a Democratic victory in November:

And this is how voters feel about Medicare-For-All. As you can see, it's very popular-- more popular than any congressional leaders-- about as popular as Bernie. Are establishment Democrats like Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn out on the hustings campaigning on PAYGO? Trying to persuade voters it's a reason to vote for Democrats? Uhhh... no. Of course not. It would let all the air out of the balloon.

The RNC poll showed that "when the November election is framed by Trump and Pelosi... respondents prefer Pelosi-aligned candidates over Trump-aligned candidates by 5 points, 50 percent to 45 percent. Among independents only, Pelosi still prevails by a 4-point margin."