Democratic strategist Colin Rogero said Friday that issues like “Medicare for All” and the Green New Deal expose a “generational gap” within the Democratic Party.
“The Green New Deal and Medicare for All [are] widely popular with younger generations and working class,” Rogero, a partner at political consulting firm 76 Words, told Hill.TV.
“And then when you get into the white liberal establishment, they’re like, ‘No, I’m more focused on beating Trump,'” he continued.
“We’ll see in the primary where we actually end up.”
Rogero’s comments come after former Vice President Joe Biden downplayed enthusiasm for Medicare for All among Democrats, claiming that the majority of the party was not supportive of the policy idea.
“I don’t think the bulk of the enthusiasm in the Democratic Party is for Medicare for All,” Biden said Tuesday in Iowa.
Biden made similar remarks during an interview with “Axios on HBO,” saying the “party’s not there at all” on the progressive policy proposal.
“You all thought that what happened was the party moved extremely to the left after Hillary. AOC was a new party. She’s a bright, wonderful person. But where’s the party?” Biden told Axios’s Mike Allen.
Medicare for All has been one of the major dividing lines between progressive candidates, such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and more centrist ones like Biden and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D).
Biden been repeatedly warned against moving towards a Medicare for All system that does away with private health insurance, calling it unrealistic, and has instead proposed a plan that would expand the the Affordable Care Act.
Under Biden’s proposal, people would have the option to select a government plan or use private insurance.
Biden has also clashed with Buttigieg over the issue, accusing him earlier this week of stealing his health care policy idea.
Buttigieg responded by saying his campaign had pitched the plan months before Biden formally entered the race.
—Tess Bonn
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