What Went Down At The December Democratic Primary Debate
In the FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll conducted this week, just 2.5 percent of respondents listed taxes as their top issue in the Democratic primary. (See other results from the poll here.)
Which issue matters most to voters?
Share of respondents who named each issue as the most important one in determining who they would vote for, in a FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos poll
| Issue | Share of respondents | |
|---|---|---|
| Health care | 20.4% | |
| Wealth and income inequality | 13.8 | |
| The economy and jobs | 12.4 | |
| Climate change | 10.5 | |
| Something else | 7.7 | |
| Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and other types of discrimination | 7.6 | |
| Social Security | 5.5 | |
| Gun policy | 5.2 | |
| Education | 4.7 | |
| Immigration | 4.6 | |
| The Supreme Court | 2.8 | |
| Taxes | 2.5 | |
| Foreign affairs | 2.4 |
I think, Nate, that is a question that a lot of Democrats are asking, or at least Democratic strategists who aren’t involved in a campaign. Health care has made some of these debates a little nasty.
The wealth tax is an issue for which Warren is clearly well-prepared. I wonder how the primary might have evolved differently if that had been more of a focal point in the debates, rather than health care. And since the wealth tax is quite a bit more popular than Medicare for All, it wouldn’t have created as many potential electability issues for Warren.