Memo: Likely Democratic Primary Voters in Delaware Support the Progressive Agenda

By Ethan Winter Analyst, Data for Progress, Danielle Deiseroth Climate Data Analyst, Data for Progress, and Gustavo Sanchez Senior Data Engineer, Data for Progress

Executive Summary

On September 15, Delaware Democrats will vote in a primary to select their candidates for statewide and local officials.

In an August survey, we asked likely Democratic primary voters in Delaware if they support or oppose three progressive priorities: the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and the elimination of the filibuster. In particular, removing the filibuster is a key issue for progressives as it will make or break their ability to pass other progressive policies, like Medicare for All and a Green New Deal, in the event that Democrats are able to take a simple majority in the Senate in this year’s November general election.

Our recent polling shows that likely Delaware Democratic voters support all three of these proposals by margins easily outside of the margin of error for the survey. The Green New Deal is backed by an overwhelming 73-percentage-point margin (83 percent support, 10 percent oppose). Medicare for All, meanwhile, enjoys a 49-point margin of support (70 percent support, 21 percent oppose). Most importantly, likely Democrat primary voters also back the elimination of the filibuster by a 29-point margin (50 percent, 31 percent oppose). 

While the level of support for all three of these policies is encouraging for progressives, that a majority of Democratic primary voters support reforming Senate procedure is quite noteworthy, especially when one considers that eliminating the filibuster has not garnered the same media attention as either the Green New Deal or Medicare for All.

This is, in part, why this filibuster finding should be encouraging for progressives.

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