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Protesters at a Medicare for All rally in Los Angeles in 2017. (Photo: Molly Adams/Flickr/cc)
As its progressive wing and a groundswell of new and energetic candidates continues to move the Democratic Party to the left, a new Reuters poll out Thursday shows that support for a key plank of this insurgency--Medicare for All--has hit an all-time high with 70 percent of all Americans now in favor of a such program, including nearly 85 percent of Democrats and a full 52 percent of Republicans.
With such levels of popularity, as an accompanying article exploring some of the tensions within the party makes clear, Democratic leaders are being told they ignore the push for Medicare for All at their own peril.
\u201cIncredible. According to a new poll 70 percent of Americans now support Medicare for all\u2014including 52 percent of Republicans! The momentum is with us.\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1535042087
Members of Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) policy team also applauded the findings:
\u201cuh, holy shit new @Reuters poll\n\n"would you support a policy of medicare for all?" \n\ndemocrats: 84.5% \n\nrepublicans: 51.9%\n\nhttps://t.co/zU5UHPWqby\u201d— mike casca (@mike casca) 1535032824
\u201c84.5% of Democrats support Medicare for All.\n\n51.9% of Republicans (!!) support Medicare for All.\n\nDon't tell anyone but, uh, we're gonna win. https://t.co/dqdPoesqZQ\u201d— Josh Miller-Lewis (@Josh Miller-Lewis) 1535034690
While the Reuters article focused mainly on the question of whether progressive leaders like Sanders and congressional candidates like New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nebraska's Kara Eastman can convince voters to support progressive proposals, the news agency's polling showed that centrist Democrats, who claim they are trying to appeal to so-called "moderates," are actually alienating the vast majority of potential voters on key issues.
But the poll toward the bottom of the page conveyed that centrist Democrats still intent on appealing to moderates who they believe want to preserve the for-profit health sector--one that costs Americans $3.4 trillion per year while delivering worse outcomes than universal healthcare systems like those in the United Kingdom and France--are actually alienating the vast majority of voters.
"Democrats have been fixated for 20 years on this elusive, independent, mythical middle of the road voter that did not exist," Crystal Rhoades, head of the Democratic Party in Nebraska's Douglas County, told Reuters. "We're going to try bold ideas."
While the new poll showed higher support from Republicans for Medicare for All than other surveys, it is far from an anomaly. Progressive journalist Jordan Chariton and the Democratic Socialists of America noted that other recent polls have found that Americans from both sides of the aisle now favor government-funded universal healthcare in greater numbers than ever before.
Both also expressed deep frustration at Washington insiders' insistence that the issue is a losing one in areas thought to be conservative-leaning, as in Tuesday's Politicoarticle which quoted one veteran Democratic pollster as saying, "Voters are smart enough to know that Medicare for all isn't going to happen right now, or maybe ever."
\u201cSo #MedicareForAll is polling at 57% among Democrats and nearly 50% AMONG REPUBLICANS. So , naturally, Dem Party wizards want to run away from it (aided by stenographers in the media distorting its benefits and costs) https://t.co/rYiBcwAd00\u201d— Jordan (@Jordan) 1534956367
\u201c63% of Americans support Medicare for All, including 81% of Democrats, 66% of Independents, and 42% of Republicans.\n\nAnything less than a ringing endorsement of single-payer is a losing strategy.\u201d— DSA for Medicare for All (@DSA for Medicare for All) 1534919261
The new poll numbers come less than a week after CNN's Jake Tapper released a "Friday Fact Check" segment claiming that a study by the Koch brothers-funded Mercatus Center concluded that Medicare for All would cost more than the current healthcare system, ignoring the report's finding that it would actually save the U.S. $2 trillion in overall healthcare costs.
Proponents of the proposal shared Reuters' new poll widely, expressing hope that the increasingly positive view of Medicare for All among all Americans would become impossible for pollsters and centrists to ignore.
\u201cAs Koch-funded think tanks and corporate media "fact checkers" do their best to derail Medicare for All, new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds 70% of Americans want M4A, including FIFTY-TWO PERCENT OF REPUBLICANS. https://t.co/7OQwvnS4Wq\u201d— Alex Kotch (@Alex Kotch) 1535039812
\u201cYes, progressives are aggressively trying to take over Democratic party, but not in a vacuum. \n\nThe country as a whole is moving towards at least one key platform: even a majority of Republicans now support Medicare for All. https://t.co/VZqdWnqFqE\u201d— Kumar Rao (@Kumar Rao) 1535033469
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
As its progressive wing and a groundswell of new and energetic candidates continues to move the Democratic Party to the left, a new Reuters poll out Thursday shows that support for a key plank of this insurgency--Medicare for All--has hit an all-time high with 70 percent of all Americans now in favor of a such program, including nearly 85 percent of Democrats and a full 52 percent of Republicans.
With such levels of popularity, as an accompanying article exploring some of the tensions within the party makes clear, Democratic leaders are being told they ignore the push for Medicare for All at their own peril.
\u201cIncredible. According to a new poll 70 percent of Americans now support Medicare for all\u2014including 52 percent of Republicans! The momentum is with us.\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1535042087
Members of Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) policy team also applauded the findings:
\u201cuh, holy shit new @Reuters poll\n\n"would you support a policy of medicare for all?" \n\ndemocrats: 84.5% \n\nrepublicans: 51.9%\n\nhttps://t.co/zU5UHPWqby\u201d— mike casca (@mike casca) 1535032824
\u201c84.5% of Democrats support Medicare for All.\n\n51.9% of Republicans (!!) support Medicare for All.\n\nDon't tell anyone but, uh, we're gonna win. https://t.co/dqdPoesqZQ\u201d— Josh Miller-Lewis (@Josh Miller-Lewis) 1535034690
While the Reuters article focused mainly on the question of whether progressive leaders like Sanders and congressional candidates like New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nebraska's Kara Eastman can convince voters to support progressive proposals, the news agency's polling showed that centrist Democrats, who claim they are trying to appeal to so-called "moderates," are actually alienating the vast majority of potential voters on key issues.
But the poll toward the bottom of the page conveyed that centrist Democrats still intent on appealing to moderates who they believe want to preserve the for-profit health sector--one that costs Americans $3.4 trillion per year while delivering worse outcomes than universal healthcare systems like those in the United Kingdom and France--are actually alienating the vast majority of voters.
"Democrats have been fixated for 20 years on this elusive, independent, mythical middle of the road voter that did not exist," Crystal Rhoades, head of the Democratic Party in Nebraska's Douglas County, told Reuters. "We're going to try bold ideas."
While the new poll showed higher support from Republicans for Medicare for All than other surveys, it is far from an anomaly. Progressive journalist Jordan Chariton and the Democratic Socialists of America noted that other recent polls have found that Americans from both sides of the aisle now favor government-funded universal healthcare in greater numbers than ever before.
Both also expressed deep frustration at Washington insiders' insistence that the issue is a losing one in areas thought to be conservative-leaning, as in Tuesday's Politicoarticle which quoted one veteran Democratic pollster as saying, "Voters are smart enough to know that Medicare for all isn't going to happen right now, or maybe ever."
\u201cSo #MedicareForAll is polling at 57% among Democrats and nearly 50% AMONG REPUBLICANS. So , naturally, Dem Party wizards want to run away from it (aided by stenographers in the media distorting its benefits and costs) https://t.co/rYiBcwAd00\u201d— Jordan (@Jordan) 1534956367
\u201c63% of Americans support Medicare for All, including 81% of Democrats, 66% of Independents, and 42% of Republicans.\n\nAnything less than a ringing endorsement of single-payer is a losing strategy.\u201d— DSA for Medicare for All (@DSA for Medicare for All) 1534919261
The new poll numbers come less than a week after CNN's Jake Tapper released a "Friday Fact Check" segment claiming that a study by the Koch brothers-funded Mercatus Center concluded that Medicare for All would cost more than the current healthcare system, ignoring the report's finding that it would actually save the U.S. $2 trillion in overall healthcare costs.
Proponents of the proposal shared Reuters' new poll widely, expressing hope that the increasingly positive view of Medicare for All among all Americans would become impossible for pollsters and centrists to ignore.
\u201cAs Koch-funded think tanks and corporate media "fact checkers" do their best to derail Medicare for All, new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds 70% of Americans want M4A, including FIFTY-TWO PERCENT OF REPUBLICANS. https://t.co/7OQwvnS4Wq\u201d— Alex Kotch (@Alex Kotch) 1535039812
\u201cYes, progressives are aggressively trying to take over Democratic party, but not in a vacuum. \n\nThe country as a whole is moving towards at least one key platform: even a majority of Republicans now support Medicare for All. https://t.co/VZqdWnqFqE\u201d— Kumar Rao (@Kumar Rao) 1535033469
As its progressive wing and a groundswell of new and energetic candidates continues to move the Democratic Party to the left, a new Reuters poll out Thursday shows that support for a key plank of this insurgency--Medicare for All--has hit an all-time high with 70 percent of all Americans now in favor of a such program, including nearly 85 percent of Democrats and a full 52 percent of Republicans.
With such levels of popularity, as an accompanying article exploring some of the tensions within the party makes clear, Democratic leaders are being told they ignore the push for Medicare for All at their own peril.
\u201cIncredible. According to a new poll 70 percent of Americans now support Medicare for all\u2014including 52 percent of Republicans! The momentum is with us.\u201d— Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders) 1535042087
Members of Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) policy team also applauded the findings:
\u201cuh, holy shit new @Reuters poll\n\n"would you support a policy of medicare for all?" \n\ndemocrats: 84.5% \n\nrepublicans: 51.9%\n\nhttps://t.co/zU5UHPWqby\u201d— mike casca (@mike casca) 1535032824
\u201c84.5% of Democrats support Medicare for All.\n\n51.9% of Republicans (!!) support Medicare for All.\n\nDon't tell anyone but, uh, we're gonna win. https://t.co/dqdPoesqZQ\u201d— Josh Miller-Lewis (@Josh Miller-Lewis) 1535034690
While the Reuters article focused mainly on the question of whether progressive leaders like Sanders and congressional candidates like New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nebraska's Kara Eastman can convince voters to support progressive proposals, the news agency's polling showed that centrist Democrats, who claim they are trying to appeal to so-called "moderates," are actually alienating the vast majority of potential voters on key issues.
But the poll toward the bottom of the page conveyed that centrist Democrats still intent on appealing to moderates who they believe want to preserve the for-profit health sector--one that costs Americans $3.4 trillion per year while delivering worse outcomes than universal healthcare systems like those in the United Kingdom and France--are actually alienating the vast majority of voters.
"Democrats have been fixated for 20 years on this elusive, independent, mythical middle of the road voter that did not exist," Crystal Rhoades, head of the Democratic Party in Nebraska's Douglas County, told Reuters. "We're going to try bold ideas."
While the new poll showed higher support from Republicans for Medicare for All than other surveys, it is far from an anomaly. Progressive journalist Jordan Chariton and the Democratic Socialists of America noted that other recent polls have found that Americans from both sides of the aisle now favor government-funded universal healthcare in greater numbers than ever before.
Both also expressed deep frustration at Washington insiders' insistence that the issue is a losing one in areas thought to be conservative-leaning, as in Tuesday's Politicoarticle which quoted one veteran Democratic pollster as saying, "Voters are smart enough to know that Medicare for all isn't going to happen right now, or maybe ever."
\u201cSo #MedicareForAll is polling at 57% among Democrats and nearly 50% AMONG REPUBLICANS. So , naturally, Dem Party wizards want to run away from it (aided by stenographers in the media distorting its benefits and costs) https://t.co/rYiBcwAd00\u201d— Jordan (@Jordan) 1534956367
\u201c63% of Americans support Medicare for All, including 81% of Democrats, 66% of Independents, and 42% of Republicans.\n\nAnything less than a ringing endorsement of single-payer is a losing strategy.\u201d— DSA for Medicare for All (@DSA for Medicare for All) 1534919261
The new poll numbers come less than a week after CNN's Jake Tapper released a "Friday Fact Check" segment claiming that a study by the Koch brothers-funded Mercatus Center concluded that Medicare for All would cost more than the current healthcare system, ignoring the report's finding that it would actually save the U.S. $2 trillion in overall healthcare costs.
Proponents of the proposal shared Reuters' new poll widely, expressing hope that the increasingly positive view of Medicare for All among all Americans would become impossible for pollsters and centrists to ignore.
\u201cAs Koch-funded think tanks and corporate media "fact checkers" do their best to derail Medicare for All, new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds 70% of Americans want M4A, including FIFTY-TWO PERCENT OF REPUBLICANS. https://t.co/7OQwvnS4Wq\u201d— Alex Kotch (@Alex Kotch) 1535039812
\u201cYes, progressives are aggressively trying to take over Democratic party, but not in a vacuum. \n\nThe country as a whole is moving towards at least one key platform: even a majority of Republicans now support Medicare for All. https://t.co/VZqdWnqFqE\u201d— Kumar Rao (@Kumar Rao) 1535033469
"How the government reacts will tell us so much about how far down the road to autocracy we are," said one lawyer.
A U.S. judge on Friday ordered the return of a Maryland resident who the Trump administration mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador last month, according to The Associated Press.
Prior to issuing the ruling, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis called the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia "an illegal act."
The judge, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, gave the Trump administration end of the day of the day on Monday to bring him back to the United States.
Supporters outside the courtroom cheered as the judge handed down her order, according to The Washington Post.
Responding to the ruling on social media, U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said: "This is a big win. Now Trump must comply with the judge's order."
Immigration lawyer Ava Benach wrote: "The right decision. How the government reacts will tell us so much about how far down the road to autocracy we are."
The right decision. How the government reacts will tell us so much about how far down the road to autocracy we are.
[image or embed]
— avabenach.bsky.social (@avabenach.bsky.social) April 4, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Abrego Garcia was among hundreds of people the administration expelled in mid-March to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador after targeting them for alleged gang ties.
In a court papers filed earlier this week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) acting field office director admitted that the removal of Abrego Garcia on March 15 "was an error."
Abrego Garcia was deported despite the fact that in 2019, a U.S. immigration judge ruled that he could not be deported to his native El Salvador because he would likely face gang persecution there.
"Corporations get let off the hook, Musk gets insider information, and the American people get hosed."
The latest U.S. agency in the crosshairs of billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is reportedly the Federal Trade Commission, an already-understaffed department tasked with preventing monopolistic practices and shielding consumers from corporate abuses.
Axios reported Friday that at least two DOGE staffers "now have offices at" the FTC. According to The Verge, two DOGE members "were spotted" at the agency's building this week and "are now listed in the FTC's internal directory."
The Verge noted that the FTC is "a fairly lean agency with fewer than 1,200 employees," a number that the Trump administration has already cut into with the firing of some of the department's consumer protection and antitrust staff.
At least two of Musk's companies, Tesla and X, have faced scrutiny in recent years from the FTC, which is now under the leadership of Trump appointee Andrew Ferguson, who previously pledged to roll back former chair Lina Khan's anti-monopoly legacy.
Emily Peterson-Cassin, corporate power director at the Demand Progress Education Fund, which referred to the operatives as Musk's "minions," said Friday that "DOGE is yet again raiding a federal watchdog tasked with protecting working Americans from Wall Street and Big Tech."
"The FTC has worked to stop monopolistic mergers that would have led to higher grocery prices and is now gearing up to go to court against Meta's social media monopoly," said Peterson-Cassin. "It's no surprise that at this moment, while the economy is in freefall and fraud is on the rise, DOGE is choosing to raid the federal watchdog that protects everyday Americans and threatens corporate monopolies and grifters."
News of DOGE staffers' infiltration of the FTC came as Trump's sweeping new tariffs continued to cause global economic turmoil and heightened concerns that companies in the U.S. will use the tariffs as a new excuse to jack up prices and pad their bottom lines.
Ferguson pledged in a social media post Thursday that under his leadership, the FTC "will be watching closely" to ensure companies don't view Trump's tariffs "as a green light for price fixing or any other unlawful behavior."
But Trump has hobbled the agency—and prompted yet another legal fight—by firing its two Democratic commissioners, a move that sparked fury and has already impacted the FTC's ability to pursue cases against large corporations.
Peterson-Cassin said Friday that "the only winners" of DOGE's targeting of the FTC "are Trump's billionaire besties like [Meta CEO] Mark Zuckerberg and especially Musk, who now stands to gain access to confidential financial information about every company ever investigated by the FTC, including the auto manufacturers, aerospace firms, internet providers, tech companies, and banks that directly compete with his own companies."
"Corporations get let off the hook, Musk gets insider information, and the American people get hosed," Peterson-Cassin added.
"The president single-handedly wiped out Americans' retirement savings overnight and subjected businesses to intense whiplash with his increasingly erratic and chaotic policies that continue to drive consumer and business uncertainty."
Alarm over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs continues to grow, with stocks plummeting and JPMorgan warning that "the risk of recession in the global economy this year is raised to 60%, up from 40%."
After China announced new 34% tariffs on all American goods beginning next week, The Associated Press reported Friday that "the S&P 500 was down 4.8% in afternoon trading, after earlier dropping more than 5%, following its worst day since Covid wrecked the global economy in 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,719 points, or 4.3%, as of 1:08 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 4.9% lower."
Noting the state of Wall Street this week, Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens declared in a Friday statement that "Trump has officially brought the economy to its knees."
"The president single-handedly wiped out Americans' retirement savings overnight and subjected businesses to intense whiplash with his increasingly erratic and chaotic policies that continue to drive consumer and business uncertainty," she said. "To call this an economic downturn is an understatement; Trump is marching us straight into a depression."
Political and economic observers have been publicly wondering for weeks if Trump is intentionally crashing the economy. Further fueling those fears, he ramped up his trade war on Wednesday by announcing a minimum 10% tariff for imports, with higher levies for dozens of countries. Although he claimed those steeper duties are "reciprocal," his math "horrified" economists and has been called "crazy."
Responding in a Thursday note titled, There Will Be Blood, head of global economic research Bruce Kasman and other experts at JPMorgan wrote that "if sustained, this year's ~22%-point tariff increase would be the largest U.S. tax hike since 1968."
"The effect of this tax hike is likely to be magnified—through retaliation, a slide in U.S. business sentiment, and supply chain disruptions," states the note, which came before China's announcement.
As Bloomberg reported:
Several Wall Street firms on Thursday warned of a U.S. recession, with some making it their base case, after... Trump announced major levies on goods imported from countries around the world. Other economists, including those at JPMorgan, said the hit could be big, though they are taking a wait-and-see approach before revising their projections.
The announcement rocked global financial markets, and the S&P 500 suffered its worst day since 2020. Trump, speaking on Air Force One on Thursday afternoon, said he was open to reducing tariffs if trading partners were able to offer something "phenomenal."
"We are not making immediate changes to our forecasts and want to see the initial implementation and negotiation process that takes hold," the JPMorgan note says. "However, we view the full implementation of announced policies as a substantial macroeconomic shock not currently incorporated in our forecasts. We thus emphasize that these policies, if sustained, would likely push the U.S. and possibly global economy into recession this year."
The team also pointed out that the United States is in potential danger no matter how other countries are ultimately impacted, calling a "scenario where rest of world muddles through a U.S. recession possible but less likely than global downturn."
As Common Dreams reported last week, in anticipation of Trump's tariff announcement, Goldman Sachs published a research note projecting that the odds of a recession in the next year are 35%, up from 20%.
Other financial industry research firms that have recently warned of a possible recession include Barclays, BofA Global Research, Deutsche Bank, RBC Capital Markets, and UBS Global Wealth Management, according to Reuters.
"This is a game-changer, not only for the U.S. economy, but for the global economy. Many countries will likely end up in a recession," Olu Sonola, head of U.S. economic research at Fitch Ratings, said in a late Wednesday note about the levies. "You can throw most forecasts out the door, if this tariff rate stays on for an extended period of time."
Experts have made similar comments to the press in the wake of the president's Rose Garden remarks on Wednesday. Time on Friday shared some from Brian Bethune, a Boston College economics professor:
"[Consumers] are not even going to the grocery store and paying more for vegetables because there's none available from Mexico, or going to Whole Foods, for example, and finding the big sections of fresh fruit are being shut down. They haven't really felt the full impact [yet], and they're already saying something isn't right," Bethune says.
However, while some economists... are more cautious in their discussion about a possible recession, Bethune says it's "inevitable." The question, he says, is just how long until it happens and for how long will it occur? He sees Trump's admission of there being " some pain" on the horizon as only proof of the inevitability.
"At least they [the Trump administration] are not pretending that it's not disruptive, but they're basically soft-selling it, reflecting their ignorance about the way business operates," Bethune claims.
Also on Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest U.S. jobs data. Although the unemployment rate rose from 4.1% to 4.2% in March, the economy added 228,000 jobs, which was better than expected.
However, economists warn of what lies ahead. As University of Michican economics professor Betsey Stevenson put it, "Today's jobs report is like looking at your vacation photos after you had a horrible car crash on the way home."