What Went Down In The Fourth Democratic Debate

I thought Buttigieg tended to get the better of that exchange as it went on. (Although I think Warren should probably have been afforded one more response.) The reasons you might prefer Medicare for All to Medicare for All Who Want It are fairly complicated and not all that easy to explain in the context of a debate.

Forty-one percent of Americans favor a Medicare for All health care system in which private insurance would be eliminated, while 67 percent favor allowing people under the age of 65 to buy health coverage through Medicare. Among Democratic primary voters, 63 percent are in favor of Medicare for All and 78 percent support giving people the option to buy in to Medicare, according to a September NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

Up until now, Warren hasn’t really been attacked on the debate stage. This is something of a first. Buttigieg is going for it because he knows if he is going to gain in the polls, it’s going to come from Warren’s college-educated white base. He also wants to toe a line of not going too far and turning off those same voters.