Yang surpasses Beto in Iowa poll, qualifies for fall debates

[Jose Garcia]

Andrew Yang, the entrepreneur running an outsider presidential campaign centered on the promise of a universal basic income, has qualified for the fall Democratic primary debates.

Yang crossed the second of two required debate thresholds on Thursday, when he polled at 2 percent in a Monmouth University poll in Iowa. He had previously received at least 2 percent in three other polls approved by the Democratic National Committee and has hit the required 130,000 unique donor mark.

At the other end of the spectrum, onetime Democratic phenom Beto O'Rourke was outperformed in the poll by Yang, clocking in at under 1 percent.

Yang is the ninth candidate to qualify for a pair of debates: one in mid-September and one sometime in October. He joins Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren on stage.

More: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/08/andrew-yang-qualifies-democratic-debates-1453030

[oldsoftie]

1. Still early, but the final 3 will be Biden, Harris, Warren. IMO.

Sanders MAY squeeze in there, but doubtful

[Sherman A1]

3. You are right it is very early

and from my understanding the front runner early on does not normally end up as the nominee, but we will see.

[Bradshaw3]

2. I've been more impressed by Yang than Mayor Pete

Not saying I want him to be the nominee but Yang really seems to have a solid perspective on issues and the big picture, combined with real compassion.

[2020Junker]

4. I really, really like Yang

I'm not sure he's viable (he's my number four at the moment), but I simply like hearing the man speak. He's a brilliant person who has a grasp on how our economic future is going to be, whether we acknowledge it or not.

What hit me like a bolt of lightning in the debates was when he said on climate change, "We're already too late. Prepare accordingly."

That is a hard truth, but one that needed to be spoken aloud. Anyone following climate news can see how the change is accelerating. Everyday, some new alarm bell is screaming at us. We've already done unmistakable damage. The problem is, humans work on more immediate scales. Miami and New Orleans are going under no matter what we do now. We literally baked that one in. But we won't see it for another decade or two. So we collectively just don't regard it as a threat to be addressed.

The man speaks knowledgeable sense. I want him around for more debates, more national discussion, more awareness. I would love to see him in a Cabinet position - perhaps Department of Labor or Commerce given his deep knowledge of how automation is going to rapidly transform our economy in the next two or three decades and profoundly affect the average American worker.

We need people like him to move us forward and prepare for the challenges we already know are coming. The guy has a lot of foresight. We need more of that.

[flamingdem]

5. Yang is a good addition, as would be Inslee

We need to bring attention to automation and obviously climate!