Ryan Nicol
Former tech executive Andrew Yang easily topped his Democratic presidential primary opponents in an online straw poll conducted by Progress Florida.
The survey concluded Tuesday night evening.
Progress Florida’s website shows Yang earning 35 percent of the vote. That’s well ahead of the second place candidate, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Warren earned just under 20 percent support.
Online polls aren’t considered scientific, as they can be susceptible to one candidate’s supporters spamming the results.
On the other hand, that option was available to supporters of all candidates. And Yang’s showed up, giving him the comfortable win.
But Mark Ferrulo, director of Progress Florida, said the group worked to verify that only votes from Floridians were included.
“Our Presidential Straw Poll was flooded by thousands of votes from across the country but only votes cast by Floridians with valid emails were counted,” Ferrulo said.
“Everyone who voted received a link to check their voter registration status, register to vote online, or register to vote-by-mail in the upcoming real election.”
Still, more scientific surveys are likely better indicators of future performance.
In third place was U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont at 14 percent support. Sanders was followed by former Vice President Joe Biden at 12 percent and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 5 percent.
U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California were at a near-tie for sixth, with Harris just two votes behind Gabbard.
The Progress Florida poll launched at the beginning of August. Ferrulo told Florida Politics last week that Yang trailed some of the more well-known candidates up until Monday, Aug. 5.
“After five days of voting, our straw poll had Warren, Sanders and Biden as the top vote-getters,” Ferrulo said.
He added at the time that, “It will be interesting to see if other candidates’ supporters launch a similar push.” But Yang maintained and even expanded his lead as the voting continued.
Yang appeared on the second night of the Democrats’ most recent debate in Detroit. He apparently made a good impression, as Yang’s team says he earned more than $1 million in donations in the following four days.
For comparison, Yang raised $1.7 million through the entire first quarter of 2020, followed by $2.8 million in the second quarter.
Yang is polling in the low single-digits both nationally and in Florida. But he has now qualified for the third and fourth Democratic debates. His signature issue has been the push for a universal basic income — or, as Yang calls it, a “freedom dividend.”
The plan would grant all Americans $1,000 per month, regardless of their income status. Yang argues those payments will be needed as the American economy transitions toward more automation, which will result in some sectors laying off employees.
Americans who take the payout would receive it in lieu of some traditional welfare programs. But other programs such as Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security would continue to be paid out in addition to the dividend.
Yang says a 10 percent value-added tax would pay for the added cost of program.
20 comments
gary
August 14, 2019 at 3:06 pm
snooze
Trump 2020. He can’t be beat by any of the Democrat socialist!
Fred
August 14, 2019 at 4:19 pm
It’s either Yang or Trump for me in 2020. You can bury all the other candidates.
Steve
August 15, 2019 at 12:17 am
Ah that’s me too! It’s either one or the other. Any other is dead to me. But mostly, it’s Yang. It’s like an evolved Trump. Honestly needed (obviously needed).
Charles
August 20, 2019 at 12:37 pm
Yea, voted Trump in to break things. Need Yang in there now to put it back together in a non-corporatist pro-market way.
Phuong Truong
August 15, 2019 at 11:15 am
Yang or Trump here too.
Travis
August 15, 2019 at 6:08 pm
Yang isn’t a socialist, snowflake.
SoFineSoFla
August 14, 2019 at 6:45 pm
Yang plays well to the “free stuff” crowd, but little elsewhere.
Kevin Ngo
August 14, 2019 at 7:14 pm
It’s not free. It’s a dividend that should belong to us as trillion-dollar corporations close our stores, set to automate 50% of jobs, and are paying $0 in taxes. Do we really want to keep being a country where GDP is at record-high, yet 80% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck and mental health declines? The Freedom Dividend is about everything EXCEPT the money, it’s about a better future for us as a nation.
Austin
August 15, 2019 at 10:57 am
Yang has a ton of detailed policies on his site. You will hear more about them in the coming months. Snide checking them out here yang2020.com/policies
Austin
August 15, 2019 at 10:58 am
*Consider checking them out*
Travis
August 15, 2019 at 6:09 pm
Stop being lazy and read about his actual policies
Robert zhao
August 15, 2019 at 11:21 am
Yang is so much better than trump!no offense to republicans.as I think trump is tiny better than Hillary.
Travis
August 15, 2019 at 6:12 pm
Nice article and great news! Minor correction: the VAT only covers about a third of the cost of UBI. The rest will hopefully be recovered from savings on welfare, rehab, incarceration, etc
Jonathan Osteen
August 16, 2019 at 12:29 am
Yep. It’s all very well researched. More details here: https://freedom-dividend.com/?fbclid=IwAR0mLVKmxYCmBz9mKOR56QCYjv2E_NMHHslU8P6aOrYUYlKNRg1dg2OL2Ec
Charles
August 20, 2019 at 12:43 pm
Automation tax (every robot mile, every AI call) will be the long-term solution. 44% of jobs in a $20 trillion annual economy getting replaced means roughly $8.8 trillion profit stream given near zero marginal cost AI. A cut of that would easily cover the $2-3 trillion dividend. Just that it is trickier to structure than a VAT, and automation displacement/profit is only at 3-5% today.
Tom
August 15, 2019 at 11:01 pm
“Yang raised $1.7 million through the entire first quarter of 2020”
And here I thought I was living in 2019. Silly me.
Jacob Kuna
August 17, 2019 at 9:55 am
Anyone ever play Monopoly? You know, the game designed to show how pure capitalism wouldn’t work but was actually lots of fun? Remember passing “Go” and collecting $200? That is UBI. A small stipend that players received once a time around the board(One year, one month) so they could reinvest the capital in to properties, pay taxes, have some fun, bail yourself out of jail or even save it to amass wealth. This is exactly what Andrew Yang proposes, a mechanism in which ALL players(us normal people, not just the rich and affluent) that allows for a trickle up economy, a way for everyone to play. Capitalism that works for everyone.
gha
August 17, 2019 at 2:20 pm
Great job Yang
Lewis J.
August 19, 2019 at 5:59 am
Awesome results, let’s keep the momentum going #Yang2020 🤓#MATH
YangGangster 2020
August 23, 2019 at 9:58 pm
YangGang, we have to make sure he’s the Democratic nominee for President. We need to vote for Yang in the Democrat Primary Election to get him on the 2020 ballot. In Florida & many states you have to be registered as a Democrat to vote in the Primary. You can always switch back to Independent, Republican, Libertarian, etc after you vote in the primary.
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