Data For Progress has done some new polling about the popularity of various progressive issues. What’s interesting is that they present state-by-state results, so it’s possible to see how things shake out in places like Wisconsin, which was critical to Donald Trump’s victory in 2016 and will almost certainly be critical again in 2020. So without further ado, here’s how the good people of Wisconsin feel about the progressive agenda:
It’s no surprise to see high support for pandemic protection—who’s against pandemic protection?—but I’m a little surprised that extending the New START treaty with Russia polls so strongly. Who knew?
In any case, the issues that seem to resonate most are ones that have a very personal effect: caps on credit card interest, employee governance, and marijuana legalization. The ones that poll the worst mostly don’t: lead removal, public housing, and an end to money bail.
One other note: this poll is a good illustration of why I say that the real baseline for issue popularity is around two-thirds. As you can see, every single issue here polls above 50 percent.¹ That’s obviously a meaningless number, especially since all of these issues will lose support if they become part of a campaign where the opposition gets to demonize them. The top five, which are genuinely more popular than the others, all poll above 66 percent. That’s the real number you want to start with.
¹Except for poor old money bail, which only gets 49 percent approval.
