Joe Biden’s record on Social Security is getting a close look all of a sudden, especially from early state voters, according to Google Analytics.
Google Analytics allows anyone to see what the frequency of a given search has been, over a given time period, and break it out by region. It is thus a powerful social science research tool for tracking public perception. Here is the data for “Biden Social Security” over the past seven days:
Bernie knew the headwinds he was sailing into by shining a light on Biden’s biggest U turn of his entire candidacy, namely transforming himself into a sudden-champion of social safety nets. The media was not unaware of this issue, they were just being silent on it. Biden has a long and unbroken history of advocating for cuts to Social Security and other safety net programs, as noted Bernie critic Paul Krugman once recently noted (prior to yesterday’s heel turn):
Headwinds be damned, Bernie also knows the inevitable attacks on his character, his staff, etc. for critiquing Biden are in bad faith, borne out of [mostly older Democrats’] half-baked political realism (centrism faired poorly against Trump), sour grapes (see Hillary’s latest public travesty), or both.
In the end, the truth is the truth, and candidates’ records are fair game, as Elizabeth Warren also said in reference to Biden’s abysmal social security record. We don’t have to let the older generations dictate the politics of the possible thanks to savvy political fighters with deep working class solidarity, like Bernie.
Google analytics. Check it out. It’s a data nerd’s nirvana.
Sanders supporters: keep it up! Every poll in Iowa and NH recently either has Bernie in the outright lead or improving over the previous one. Bernie volunteer options, in order of importance:
1. If you’re in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, or South Carolina:- find an event near you: events.BernieSanders.com - Download BERN and add everyone you know and ask them to support Bernie: https://app.berniesanders.com/
2. If you’re not in one of those first four early states, the most important thing you can do is get to one of those first four early states, especially IA and NH. Take the “Bernie Journey” and travel there to knock on doors: https://act.berniesanders.com/signup/…
3. If you can’t get there in person, make calls to early states. The Campaign has a huge goal of 5 million calls before Iowa. You can do it on your own from home, there’s a chatbox if you need help, and there’s a community on Slack of other callers to talk to. As a “coastal, urban elite” with a small child, I have mainly been volunteering in this way, and it is super easy and even quite fun at times. https://berniesanders.com/call
4. Early voting info (and general 50 state voting info)