Looking at Shutdown Polling

I missed the live Bernie/AOC “Shutdown Town Hall” on CNN but just watched it. (embedded below). There was a funny part where the execrable Kaitlan Collins, formerly of the Daily Caller and now CNN White House correspondent, tried a gotcha about a possible AOC/Schumer primary, and she got shot down along with a lecture about the stupidity of the question.

Speaking of stupid framing, the AP and NORC put out a poll which had as its entire goal to figure out who’s “winning” the shutdown. The results are definitely mixed, but the main take home for me was that opinions pretty much crystallized along party lines.

Check out the framing of the question — it’s a narrow and somewhat technical view of ACA subsidies. Bernie and AOC framed it as healthcare writ large, trying to prevent the deaths of 50,000 Americans. But even with the narrow framing, and the catch-all “neither favor nor oppose“ category, ACA subsidies came out as something worth fighting for. (Also, LOL at independents picking that category over all others — they really are the most wishy-washy of us all.)

Why did CNN pick Bernie and AOC instead of Schumer and Jeffries? Because they’re interesting. And, I’m glad they did, because they can think on their feet and speak in coherent, reasonable sentences instead of consultant speak. Collins and her producers threw Republicans and “Democrats who voted for Trump” (we call those Republicans) at them, and both of them handled the questions directly and well. Overall, just a great showing by those two.