{"id":49108,"date":"2026-07-10T12:40:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T19:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=49108"},"modified":"2026-07-10T12:40:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T19:40:04","slug":"a-winning-message-for-2026-swing-voters-tax-the-rich-and-medicare-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/07\/10\/a-winning-message-for-2026-swing-voters-tax-the-rich-and-medicare-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"A Winning Message for 2026 Swing Voters: Tax the Rich and Medicare for All!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"NYC-DSA<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

New York City Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA) hold a rally in Union Square marking the start of a campaign to tax the rich and win universal childcare on November 16, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Selcuk Acar\/Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe swing voters who will decide the midterms are not asking Democrats to sound more like Republicans\u2014they want Democrats to embrace progressive economic policies that will actually work to lower costs.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jul 09, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic strategists have long clashed over whether the path to victory runs through \u201cmoderation\u201d or bold progressive ideas, and a new analysis of 2026 swing voters boosts arguments for the latter, revealing the top policies that would sway them to vote Democrat include raising taxes on the wealthy and establishing a Medicare<\/a> for All-type universal healthcare<\/a> system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, Data for Progress published a new report<\/a> identifying a relatively small but electorally crucial bloc comprising roughly 8% of likely 2026 voters who are genuinely persuadable heading into the November midterms. These swing voters, many of whom voted for President Donald Trump<\/a> in 2024, identify as moderates or independents rather than conservatives, consume relatively little political news, and are primarily focused on one issue above all else: the cost of living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bernie<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Senate Race, Michigan\u2019s El-Sayed Hammers Message on Medicare for All<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"'How<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018How Small They Are\u2019: Mamdani Takes Apart MAGA\u2019s Vision of America in July 4 Address<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA plurality of swing voters aren\u2019t sure which party they trust on the major issues, but Democrats hold a slight advantage on inflation<\/a> and the cost of living, the top issue for swing voters,\u201d Data for Progress found. \u201cAround 1 in 3 swing voters say their biggest issues with the Democratic Party<\/a> are its \u2018old and out of touch\u2019 leadership and the party \u2018not doing enough to lower costs.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe most popular proposal was simple: Raise taxes on the wealthy,\u201d the report states. \u201cTwenty-eight percent selected it as one of their top three choices. Close behind, at 24%, was creating a Medicare for All<\/a> healthcare system. Those weren\u2019t followed by tougher immigration<\/a> policies or deficit reduction. Instead, voters also favored banning artificial intelligence<\/a> from setting prices or wages based on personal data and preventing utility companies from passing unreasonable costs on to consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BlueSky: https:\/\/embed.bsky.app\/embed\/did:plc:ltzetlayeqsp4qu7pb4irz24\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mq7qkcipmc2x?id=06665872356077895&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.commondreams.org%252Fnews%252Fswing-voters-2026-poll&colorMode=system<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the report, swing voters currently favor a Democratic candidate for Congress over a Republican by a 12-point margin, with 46% undecided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe swing voters who will decide the midterms are not asking Democrats to sound more like Republicans\u2014they want Democrats to embrace progressive economic policies that will actually work to lower costs and put\u00a0workers<\/a>\u00a0first,\u201d Data for Progress executive director Ryan O\u2019Donnell said on Thursday. \u201cVoters have been making clear for years that cost-of-living issues are the top priority. Taking more conservative stances is not what voters are asking for from their leaders right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York City Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA) hold a rally in Union Square marking the start of a campaign to tax the rich and win universal childcare on November 16, 2025. \u00a0(Photo by Selcuk Acar\/Anadolu via Getty Images) \u201cThe swing voters who will decide the midterms are not asking… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2003,2072],"tags":[1192,49],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49108"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49108"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49109,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49108\/revisions\/49109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}