Warren Stumbled on Medicare for All Plans, Kickstarting a Rapid Polling Decline and Sad Ending to her Campaign

NPR: “By the time Warren came up with both a way to pay for Medicare for All and a plan to transition to it, the issue was a key way that opponents were attacking her — and, potentially, a key factor in her declining support among Democratic voters. Releasing her plans didn’t appear to help her regain that ground.”

NPR: “It’s not just that attacks from opponents hurt Warren, according to Chris Jennings, who served as a health care adviser to Presidents Clinton and Obama. ‘I think she created a box from which she could not escape,’ he said.”

NPR: “Jennings says that voters’ perception of Warren was shaken by the fact that Warren said she wouldn’t raise costs for middle-class families but then didn’t have a plan immediately at the ready.”

NBC News: “For months, the Massachusetts senator faced constant attacks over her embrace of Bernie Sanders’ single-payer health care plan, then further attacks after she released her own plans on how to pass, finance and implement it. Her campaign was dragged down and never fully recovered.”

“As the months wore on, however, it became clear Medicare for All didn’t fit the winning formula that underscored the rest of her platform.”

NBC News: “This was especially problematic for Warren, because the college-educated voters most attracted to her wonky populism were also the voters most likely to have coverage through work. Polls show Americans are mostly satisfied with their work plans, even as they worry about the overall system.”

“Facing bipartisan fire and more scrutiny in the press, Medicare for All grew less popular as voters learned more about its price tag and elimination of competing private plans.”

The Daily Beast: “And among her fellow Democrats, including those in the field, there is a universally agreed upon culprit for the stall in the polls: her embrace and handling of Medicare for All.”

The Daily Beast: “The senator’s decision to back single-payer health care has long been considered by establishment Democrats as a self-inflicted wound, one that would prove to be a massive weight on her in a general election should she get there.”

“One senior Democratic Party member—who is philosophically supportive of Warren’s candidacy—said he was “dumbfounded” by her decision to align herself so closely with the proposal. “She’s completely boxed herself in,” the member said. “I just don’t see why she did it or how she gets out of it.”

“I think it’s that Medicare for All is poison,” said a senior aide to another 2020 Democrat. “It is fucking poison. You touch it, you turn to dust.”

New York Times: “‘I expected her to talk more about the health care for all stuff, definitely,’ said Max Goldman, 53, who attended Ms. Warren’s rally in Clarinda. Referring to her campaign, he added, ‘I think they know it’s controversial.’”

New York Times: “Yet this approach, which includes shorter opening remarks and more time for audience questions, has also allowed Ms. Warren to keep her own health care plan at arm’s length at a time when she has been facing significant scrutiny. It is a clear indication that, in a tight multicandidate race in Iowa, Ms. Warren has not become fully comfortable with staking her candidacy on her plan for health care, even as many Democrats cite the issue as their top priority.”

New York Times: “For many Warren admirers who attended her Iowa rallies last weekend, no polls are needed for confirmation: They believe health care has been her Achilles’ heel. Several said in interviews that they noticed Medicare for all was sparsely mentioned by Ms. Warren”

New York Times: “She has provided more specifics about her health care vision than many of the Democratic rivals who criticize her — but it is also those details, particularly on Medicare for all, that have ignited controversy.”