During a portion of an interview with CBS News aired on Monday’s edition of “Red and Blue,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) warned that while abortion is an important issue, Democrats “have got to do more” on the economy, because “Poll after poll shows what everybody understands to be true, working people are hurting. They’re worried about the economy. They’re worried about inflation.” He also said that Democrats “have an outside shot of winning the House.”
Sanders said, “I think the Democrats have a very good chance of [keeping control of] the Senate. We have an outside shot of winning the House. But I think, if we are going to do well in this midterm election, we’ve got to rally the American people, not only around the abortion issue, the right of women to control their own bodies — which is enormously important, Robert — but we have got to do more. We’ve got reach out to working families today who are hurting. We’ve got 60% of our people who are living paycheck-to-paycheck while the wealthiest people in this country have never done better. You’ve got workers today who can’t afford health care, they can’t afford prescription drugs, they can’t afford rent, can’t afford to send their kids to college while CEOs now make 400 times more than their average employee. So, I think what Democrats have got to do is to say, if we [keep] control over the Senate, if we [keep] control over the House, we are prepared to take on these very powerful special interests whose greed is really destroying the middle class of this country.”
He also stated that the abortion issue is crucial, “but it cannot be the only issue. Poll after poll shows what everybody understands to be true, working people are hurting. They’re worried about the economy. They’re worried about inflation.”
Sanders also wrote an op-ed published in The Guardian where he said that he is “alarmed to hear the advice that many Democratic candidates are getting from establishment consultants and directors of well-funded Super Pacs that the closing argument of Democrats should focus only on abortion.” And “it would be political malpractice for Democrats to ignore the state of the economy and allow Republican lies and distortions to go unanswered.”
In the op-ed Sanders also stated that “in poll after poll Republicans are more trusted than Democrats to handle the economy – the issue of most importance to people. I believe that if Democrats do not fight back on economic issues and present a strong pro-worker agenda, they could well be in the minority in both the House and the Senate next year.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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