Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's platform is more similar to that of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and far more liberal than that of Barack Obama when he first ran for president, The New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay told MSNBC.
"Biden's platform is far more liberal than Barack Obama's was years ago, and so when we looked at that as an editorial board, we were kind of blown away about how much more similar it is it Bernie Sanders' platform in some ways than Barack Obama in 2008," Gay said.
Biden defeated Sanders and other progressives in the Democratic primary, but has since faced pressure from progressives to move further to the left, The Hill reported.
Although the platform does not endorse such priorities of Sanders as the Green New Deal or "Medicare for All," it does support a public option for health care that was considered during the ObamaCare debate as too ambitious.
A Hill-HarrisX poll earlier this month shows voters consider Biden more moderate than President Donald Trump, with 33% of registered voters saying Biden is moderate, while only 20% saying the same of Trump.
The survey also found more voters view Trump as conservative than view Biden as liberal, with 69% of GOP supporters considering Trump as "somewhat" or "very" conservative, compared to 41% of Democrats who view Biden as "somewhat" or "very" liberal.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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