What Went Down In The Fourth Democratic Debate

Joe Biden just brought up releasing his medical records. According to a CNN-SSRS poll from January 2018, 48 percent of Americans think the president’s medical records should be publicly released while 49 percent said they should remain private. That’s up considerably from 2004, when 61 percent said they should remain private. A Rasmussen poll from August 2016 found that 59 percent of voters thought all major presidential candidates should release their most recent medical records.

To be honest I’m not really sure what the “right” response from Sanders is supposed to be on his age/health/heart attack. It’s not an easy question to answer. But I don’t know if it’s actually smart for him to essentially just sidestep the age issue and say “hey, I’m going to be campaigning really hard.” A lot of voters are concerned about the candidates’ age overall, and about Sanders’s health.

That’s a good point, Clare. I do think Buttigieg’s attacks have landed better, but maybe it’s because, as you say, O’Rourke isn’t a favored candidate in the way that Biden is. But I also think it’s generally been a good night for moderates, or at least other moderate candidates like Buttigieg and Klobuchar. Whether that’s enough to help them in the polls, though, is a fair question.