A new Emerson Polling survey reveals that despite losing support, Joe Biden extended his lead from June with 35 percent. Elsewhere, Bernie Sanders lost ground and dropped to 15 percent support, Elizabeth Warren holds a steady 15 percent, and Kamala Harris received double her support to match Warren and Sanders’ 15 percent.
Also notable is underdog Andrew Yang’s steady increase to 3 percent support, putting him right behind Beto O’Rourke’s 4 percent and Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s 5 percent. While OpenSecrets reports that both O’Rourke and Buttigieg have $2,860,000 and $403,503 of outside money helping their campaigns, respectively, Yang notably has none, which makes his climb in the polls all the more impressive.
Yang has already met the donor requirements for the third and fourth debates in September and October and now needs to earn 2 percent support in four different approved polls — of which Emerson is not included.
Although the slow rise of the long-shot candidate might seem surprising, ABC News reports that Yang was one of the earliest candidates in the 2020 presidential race. He announced his bid back in November 2017 and has made appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast and The Breakfast Club radio show to boost his profile.
New national poll from @EmersonPolling shows @AndrewYang in 7th with 3% of the vote. This is not a qualifying poll for the fall debates, but if @MSNBC reports on this, I fully expect them to only show the top 6… #YangGang #Yang2020 pic.twitter.com/PjVJUWws1n
— Scott Santens (@scottsantens) July 9, 2019
According to Spencer Kimball, director of Emerson Polling, the numbers suggest that the field of Democratic candidates “is still fluid and that Biden will need to improve upon his performance to maintain his lead.”
In addition, The Hill reports that 60 percent of respondents said they weren’t set on the candidate they chose, while 41 percent said they will definitely vote for their preferred candidate.
Yang recently appeared on The View and spoke about his platform of universal basic income (UBI) of $1,000 monthly for every American over the age of 18, which he plans to pay in part by taxing Big Tech companies like Amazon and Google — companies the 44-year-old entrepreneur says are very good at not paying taxes.
In terms of other policies, Yang has many, including the decriminalization of opioids, per The Inquisitr .
“The War on Drugs has not worked,” his policy page reads. “We need to give more American families and communities a real chance to get well, and we need to evolve from a punitive approach that does not serve the public. If you are caught with a small amount of drugs, we should refer you straight to treatment, not a prison cell.”
Before his presidential run, Yang was the CEO of a test-prep company and founder of Venture for America, a non-profit organization that trains college graduates and young professionals and places them at emerging U.S. startups.
