Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., might not yet have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, but he is laying the groundwork to persuade the presumptive Democrat presidential nominee to embrace the liberal ideals that he supports.
Sanders recently commissioned a poll of 1,158 likely voters in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, where he found that the majority supported implementing ideas such as raising the minimum wage, raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations, Medicare for all, and making public colleges tuition-free, Punchbowl News reported Monday.
The poll was conducted July 26-29 by Data for Progress, which, according to its website, is a "progressive think tank and polling firm arming movements with the tools they need to fight for a more equitable future." It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
It found 70% strongly or somewhat supported a federal minimum wage of $17 per hour, which is currently at $7.25. It also found that 67% believed corporations should pay more in taxes and that 70% said the wealthy should pay more in taxes, although it didn't describe what "wealthy" meant.
Regarding a solution to student loan debt, the poll found 59% favored making public colleges and universities tuition-free. When it came to a Medicare for all single-payer healthcare system, 63% supported it, including 85% of Democrats and 64% of independent voters. Just 41% of Republicans said they supported it, with 45% opposing it and 13% who responded, "don't know."
The poll showed the economy, jobs and inflation concerned voters the most, followed by immigration and programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
Sanders told Punchbowl News in an interview Sunday that Harris should run her campaign on appealing to "economic issues of concern to the working class of this country."
"There are not any radical ideas that nobody has ever heard of," Sanders said. "What I want to make sure — and what this all is about — is to get the point not only to the vice president but to every Democratic candidate that if you run on issues, economic issues of concern to the working class of this country [that] we have ignored for too many years, you can win this election. That's the main thrust of this poll."
The poll found Harris and Republican Donald Trump tied 49%-49% in a head-to-head matchup and Trump ahead 46%-45% when other candidates such as independents Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West were included.