So, Andrew Yang and Bernie Sanders are my previous 2016 and 2020 options for president, and I respect them both. I did analyze them at the time, but considering how I've been redoing the metrics, I'm just curious how their 2020 campaigns would work according to my current metrics. I will only go by metric 1 here, but I do want to get an idea how they would do.
Bernie Sanders
UBI support- 0/10
Bernie did not support UBI.
Support for Medicare for all- 10/10
Bernie was the OG medicare for all guy.
Economic policy- 10/10
Bernie had an excellent economic policy, supporting a $15 minimum wage, green new deal, free college/student debt forgiveness, unions, etc. He is basically the archetype for an ideal economic policy if you're not going the UBI direction.
Social policy- 10/10
Eh, Bernie did have an assault weapons ban I disagree with, but otherwise, he once again, was the standard setter and had an extremely strong platform.
Foreign policy- 8/10
Eh, reading his foreign policy page, he seemed good for 2020, but in 2024, the issues have changed, and he is kinda eh. Like he voted against Israel aid which I thought was cringey, but at the same time, for a leftist, he's been pretty sane and level headed, and I can't rag him too hard. He kinda gets the balance between ideals and reality pretty good.
Overall ideology- 16/20
The dude is your typical jobist progressive. He has very good policies and very good views, but I will always disagree with him on that. Still, he gets it more than most.
Commitment to progressive ideological goals- 9/10
I cant trust him to implement UBI, but I can trust him to push for the rest of his platform. If there's anything Bernie is known for, it's his consistency and doing the right thing in his eyes even if it isn't always popular.
Experience/competence- 10/10
He had decades of experience and was very qualified to do the job. Only person more qualified was possibly Joe Biden who was Obama's VP, but other than that.
Doesn't act as a spoiler- 10/10
I know ESS will hate me for that, but he ran as a democrat, and supported the democratic nominee both times. He cannot be held responsible for the behavior of his supporters, such as me. He did everything he could.
Total- 83/100
Bernie Sanders is a once in a generation candidate. Even without UBI support, he aced my metric more so than any 2024 candidate, and it's quite clear why I supported him. It's a darned shame, he didn't become president.
Warmness rating: 80/100
I feel very positively about Bernie, while also being somewhat realistic about his limitations and not idolizing the dude.
Andrew Yang
UBI support- 8/10
In mainstream politics, he is the UBI guy. His UBI plan ain't perfect, but he was the one dude who full throatedly endorsed it.
Support for Medicare for all- 4/10
Yang kinda spoke out of both sides of his mouth on this one. He supported medicare for all, then a public option, and then seemed to support basically nothing. His mixed signals cost him a lot.
Economic policy- 8/10
He actually lacked a lot of standard economic policies that I'd expect out of Bernie. Weaker on free college, no minimum wage support, no unions, but to be fair, UBI is such a good policy I can kinda overlook this somewhat. He also had a based climate plan that I overlooked at the time. So all things considered is the complete package that bad? In many Bernie supporter's eyes, yes, but to be fair, they kinda expected a bit much. When you have Bernie on the ticket you can do that, although comparing to 2024 candidates, he's still quite strong.
Social policy- 9/10
He's about as strong on social policy as Bernie was IMO. A few minor things i disliked but nothing major.
Foreign policy- 8/10
Eh, Yang seemed like a fish out of water on foreign policy at the time, but he seemed okay in retrospect. Looking at where he stands with the modern conflicts, he seems pro Ukraine and pro Israel. He gets a pass from me in that sense. Not the most qualified or knowledgeable candidate in the world but he would do the job well enough.
Overall ideology- 18/20
Dude basically thinks like me. He's a bit more moderate, so I take a couple points off, but the dude basically is running on a variation of my platform, and human centered capitalism is literally an offshoot of my ideology.
Commitment to progressive ideological goals- 2/10
Dude is inconsistent AF. I mean, that's why I dont like him in a sense. He is great on paper then he'll just randomly back away from medicare for all, or UBI, if he feels it's politically convenient. He doesn't stick to principle and tries too hard to please everyone and make them happy, even if it doesnt work in practice.
Experience/competence- 6/10
He's inexperienced, but I could see him being a fast learner. Even now he kinda lacks hands on experience, but I do think he would be competent in practice. I mean looking at his positions now, I could see him doing the job well enough.
Doesn't act as a spoiler-10/10
He ran as president as a democrat. Even his third party won't threaten Biden's shot at the presidency.
Total- 73/100
All in all, he actually scores slightly weaker than Williamson and Phillips. What really killed him was his lack of commitment to his ideological goals and the mixed signals that he caused by shifting his position. The dude cannot remain consistent to save his life. Even if he is darned near my perfect candidate, even better than Bernie, on many positions and pure ideology and worldview, he just ends up falling apart because i cant trust him to actually remain consistent. He's for medicare for all, then a public option, then something that doesn't even resemble a public option. I still kinda feel like he threw UBI under the bus with his forward party stuff. I mean, it's a real flaw and issue. And because that stuff is important, it's clear he's a bit of a weaker candidate than Bernie.
Still, make no mistake, I actually respect yang, in some ways i respect his ideology more than bernie's. because it's made of the same stuff mine is, while bernie's...isn't. If Yang had the consistency and commitment to ideological goals that Bernie did, he could've gotten up to 14 more points, putting him at 87. And sure, he does have some other flaws like lack of experience, and that kinda hurt him too (whereas bernie was experienced), he's still solid in my book. He would've been 'good enough" on that front. Yang vs Bernie is why metric 2 actually exists, but I aint really using that one right now and my voting behavior is more aligned with metric 1 given I want a bigger picture idea of all the candidates. Yang does better on my economic vision at this point, but Bernie is just more experienced, and more consistent. And that's why he takes the cake. If Bernie supported UBI, he'd get like a 95-97 probably. That's how good Bernie is.
As for Yang's warmness rating: 75/100
A little weaker than bernie's. Again, it's not about the ideology, to some extent, it's about his lack of commitment and consistency to his own darned platform.
And yeah, I just wanted to see how they stack up vs the current crop of candidates. Bernie would clean house, taking the cake for my vote. Yang would've scored slightly below dean phillips and marianne williamson but still wouldve scored in that range. I think you probably could twist my arm to get me to support yang over dean if he actually ran. Vs williamson? More interesting question. last time around Williamson was a weaker candidate, but she really buffed herself up on policy this time around to the point of being a weaker Bernie.
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