# The Andrew Yang Presidential Campaign thread
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [February 14, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555 "2019-02-14T21:16:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 23
### Author:  [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2019, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/441 "2019-07-01T04:49:20Z")
> [@Procrustus](#):
>
> That’s very exciting. If only there was some overlap between Reddit and voters
That’s a common theme in the Yang sub. Here’s [one exchange](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/c76hpc/yang_is_doing_amazingly_well/esdgtwh/).
> [@](#):
>
> A: Now the question becomes do Reddit and Twitter users vote…?
> B: They do for Yang
> C: Can confirm, my first time voting at 27 years old will be for yang.
> D: also never voted and never even cared about politics, I’m 25 and voting for the 1st time.
> E: My first vote will be for Yang
> F: He will be my first vote.
> Edit: I’ve had the opportunity to vote in many elections. I really believe he will do better at the ballots than the polls think.
> G: First vote
Of course, that’s just anecdotal, and it’s just a handful of people in a small sub. But if a majority of the people on those platforms turned out, it could make a difference in the election. Most of the people on Reddit are millennials. There are 82 million millennials in the US. For context, there are about 5 million people subscribed to r/politics and about 14 million people subscribed to the administrative subreddit.
I also noticed that some of those people have donor flairs next to their usernames. Yang has raised $1.7M last quarter and close to $2.5M this quarter. I’m thinking that if some people were willing to lay out their hard earned cash to the campaign, they’d make the extra effort to vote.
The bigger question is how to reach people who are not on social media. When Yang was just starting to grow on twitter, he would post that whenever he was getting popular, he would remind himself that something like 72% (don’t remember the exact number) of the population don’t use twitter.
Then again, that’s a problem with almost any media. They say that the debates drew between 15-19 million viewers. That’s a lot of people, but it’s not close to reaching the majority of people.
> [@chargerrich](#):
>
> While I personally think we are living in a “way too easy to offend era”, I can definitely see the similiarities in the two and as well as the hypocrisy of one being OK and the other not.
I should add that Yang is not a fan of identity politics. He didn’t comment on that one way or the other. That was just my personal take on the choice of song.
---
### Author:  [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2019, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/442 "2019-07-01T05:05:12Z")
> [@asahi](#):
>
> It might feel unnatural but Yang is going to have to be a little more assertive next time and he needs to learn the art of delivering ‘zingers’. Political debates are theater. He needs to learn how to act.
I’ve been thinking about this and reading other people’s comments about the debates.
Delivering ‘zingers’ is what trolls do. It seems odd to me that people are surprised that there’s a master troll in the White House when people are selecting for that in the debates.
From some of the things I’ve read, I think other people are questioning that as well.
---
### Author:  [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)
#### Post date: [July 1, 2019, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/443 "2019-07-01T06:32:50Z")
> [@chargerrich](#):
>
> While I personally think we are living in a “way too easy to offend era”, I can definitely see the similiarities in the two and as well as the hypocrisy of one being OK and the other not.
>
> The fact that the band who performed the song is British, has zero relevance and is not germain to the discussion… in my opinion. :dubious:
So one song is the theme to a break out comedy that defined “blackness” for much of America in the 70s. The other is a random pop song that uses a chinese word in its chorus. But you see similarities. Also, you think we’re in a “way too easy to offend era”. I hate to break it to you, but you are an example of the era.
---
### Author:  [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2019, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/444 "2019-07-08T03:47:54Z")
Some people on the #LetYangSpeak hashtag suggested that Yang create a podcast to get his message out to more people. Yang put up a [tweet](https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1145182978332594178), asking people if they’d like to hear a podcast.
> [@](#):
>
> A supporter tonight suggested I start doing a podcast called “Let Yang Speak” and do an annotated commentary on the debate and other topics. Like this if you like the idea. 😀👍
The tweet got 56K likes in a day or so. Yang asked for suggestions on guests. I haven’t heard more since then.
The twitter campaign to give away a Freedom Dividend for a year to a person following Yang’s twitter account went pretty well. There were roughly 158K retweets and his twitter following increased by over 200K accounts. The winner was supposed to have been picked on the 4th of July and vetted. The winner is still to be announced. Maybe he will announce the winner on “The View” on Monday.
Yang is scheduled to appear on _The View_ on Monday July 8 at 11 am. That show has a tendency to tear people down, so I’m hoping for the best.
Over the holiday weekend, the Yang Gang has been knocking on doors, putting up flyers and [phone banking](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/c9wziy/this_is_huge_notification_from_slack_member_on/). They made 6.9K calls in one day this weekend. Someone offered to donate $5 for every person who volunteered to phone bank this weekend.
Yang did the #bottlecapchallenge. It got [1.37M views](https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1146473590226690048) on twitter. Not sure why so many people were interested in that, but there it is. The media was more interested in the typo in the word challenge.
[Yang says](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/c8jvlq/joe_biden_said_to_andrew_yang_you_and_i_need_to/) Biden spoke to him during one of the breaks in the debate requesting to talk to him later about the 4th Industrial Revolution. Yang was pleased.
> [@](#):
>
> At an event in NYC, Andrew told the audience that during a break, Biden came up to him and said, “Andrew, you and I need to sit down and talk about the 4th industrial revolution”. Biden also told Yang that his biggest concern is that that we are going to get rid of the middle class. Yang was happy that Biden gets it.
Here’s the [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXajorGP6ak&feature=youtu.be&t=566). The beginning of the video has a number of people speaking Chinese. I’ve heard Yang speaking Chinese to those groups sometimes.
Too bad Yang didn’t break out in Chinese when asked the question on China in the debate. /s
There’s a [picture of Biden](https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1142260957818888192)watching Yang’s speech in South Carolina several days before the debates.
Someone from the UBI study in Canada made a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln7NBmN5bcc&feature=share) to give his first hand impressions. His anecdotal impressions were that the money helped people in ways that he wasn’t expecting, giving hope and relieving stress. He couldn’t square his first hand experiences with how he expected things to go.
I’ve been watching the views on the NBC News NY videos of the candidates since the debate. I’ve been trying to make sense of the view counts, but I’m not seeing a pattern. This is not the main NBC news channel youtube. This is a small offshoot youtube channel, so it’s not clear how people would have found the channel.
[Everything Andrew Yang said at the debate](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK_lUQvuDRs)
283K views
[Everything Kamala Harris said at the debate](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPyn3ozACz0)
197K views
[Everything Marianne Williamson said at the debate](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIlI386yAko)
150K views[Everything Booker said](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkW0bDG1mcU)
2K views
[Everything Castro said](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUE0h-PaNQY)
13K views
[Everything Tulsi said](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeiDiSoWA1I)
169K views
Yang’s view count continues to rise every day, which might be a good sign. But that small snippet isn’t a very good representation of his platform, so it’s hard to say if it’s helpful. It might be if people use that clip to search out more.
After the appearance on The View on Monday 7/8/19 at 11 am, Yang is scheduled to do a rally in Portland, OR on Saturday 7/13/19.
---
### Author:  [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2019, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/445 "2019-07-08T11:27:05Z")
According to my power rankings, Andrew Yang was in 6th place before the debates and he’s still in 6th place now, despite having had very little opportunity to speak. He’s struggling to get past 1% in the polls, but he clearly has a committed following, so he’ll be around for at least a few more months, most likely.
[https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21734261&postcount=5](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21734261&postcount=5)
I think MSNBC was not necessarily a great network for Yang. He might get more attention on CNN and as the debates move away from just left wing outlets.
---
### Author:  [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)
#### Post date: [July 13, 2019, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/446 "2019-07-13T05:30:31Z")
I was pleasantly shocked by how [The View](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6NdhXGXpp0) treated Yang. For the most part, they were nice and agreed with him.
Megan McCain started off by telling him that she has a “dear friend” who is Yang Gang. Just about every day, I see someone posting in the Yang sub about how they supported Trump and are now supporting Yang. Megan’s friend puts a “real life” spin on this, although I personally think that many of those people are real too.
As Yang explained UBI, Joy Behar questioned why it was needed. He explained how it would create a trickle up economy as well as redefining what we now consider as work such as for stay at home mothers. Joy liked the idea of compensating stay at home mothers. Yang noted that it would also help the waitress who was getting harassed by her boss and the single mom who might be in an abusive relationship to get some resources to help them out of their situation.
Then when he was explaining the universality of UBI.
Joy: Why should rich white people get a thousand dollars a month?
Yang: The great thing is that it would remind them that they’re still an American.
Megan: I don’t need. . . no one at this table needs, an extra thousand dollars a month. I wouldn’t feel right when there are still veterans on the street.
Whoopi: You could give it away.
Megan: ::shaking her head::
Whoopi: That’s what he means when he says that it would remind people that they’re still American. It’s not just what you do for yourself. It’s also about what you do for other folks.
Megan: ::glaring::
Yang gives the example of Alaska and how their UBI is popular because the universality depoliticizes it, destigmatizes it and eliminates the us vs. them nature of other benefits programs.
It was great for Whoopi to give the assist. Whoopi ended the session saying that Yang had interesting ideas and that she would be keeping an eye out for him. Sunny agreed.
There are a lot of good arguments for universality that I’ve read. Here are some that I like. Creating the arbitrary cut-off line about who receives it will create a lot of debate and divisiveness that might lead to the standard going lower and lower. Eliminating millionaires and billionaires takes so little off the cost that redistributing their share only gives less than $100 to everyone else. Since the Freedom Dividend is opt-in, hopefully people who don’t need it will not bother to opt-in.
A social worker, posting on twitter, [polled](https://twitter.com/RogueSocialWrkr/status/1149048565626560518) her clients, asking if they would rather have welfare benefits or UBI. 28 out of 30 voted for UBI.
Later, Yang [tweeted](https://twitter.com/sunny/status/1148308172458856448) about what the hosts on The View had been telling him during the break about how the economy wasn’t as some people were painting it.
> [@](#):
>
> One thing that @WhoopiGoldberg @sunny @JoyVBehar stressed to me during the break - the economic numbers don’t match up to how people are doing. We need to use measurements like health, life expectancy, mental health, childhood success and environment quality as measures instead.
Sunny confirmed with
> [@](#):
>
> This
Yang [raised](https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1149437211730948098) $2.8M for quarter 2 2019. 99.6% of the donations were less than $200. There are over 130K unique donors which meets the qualifying number for the next set of debates in September and October. (He has already qualified for the July debate.) He still needs 2% in three more qualifying polls before Aug. 28 to qualify for those debates. He just hit 2% on a qualifying poll - [NBC/WSJ](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/nbc-wsj-poll-biden-warren-top-2020-democratic-field-n1028971).
> [@asahi](#):
>
> According to my power rankings, Andrew Yang was in 6th place before the debates and he’s still in 6th place now, despite having had very little opportunity to speak.
You were prophetic, at least for the NBC/WSJ poll. Yang’s in 6th place in that poll. (Just saw that you changed the ranking to 8th. That’s probably closer to the overall polling.)
He hit 3% on an Emerson poll, but that doesn’t count toward the debates. The DNC pulled that poll from the debate qualifying polls. The remaining polls are mostly corporate media polls.
MSNBC did an[interview](https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/2020-dem-says-giving-everyone-1k-a-month-will-save-the-country-63686213619) with Yang on Ari Melber. At this point, Yang is one of 7 candidates on track to make the September debate.
> [@](#):
>
> The latest polling shows that only seven 2020 candidates are on track to make the debate stage in September. That includes people you might expect like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, but is also includes tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang. The presidential candidate sits down for his very first interview on The Beat to break down his signature “Freedom Dividend” plan, eliminating the penny and why he loves holograms so much.
Someone posted a [link](https://subredditstats.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ) to the subreddit stats on the Yang sub. I found it fascinating. The growth in the last couple weeks has been quite high after steady growth from March to June.
Yang announced the Freedom Dividend [winner](https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1149453555654418433) from the twitter contest. She looked overjoyed.
A comedian who did a parody of Yang (that Yang participated in) for The Daily Show, Ronny Chieng, [talks](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/cbw5lm/ronny_chieng_of_the_daily_show_speaks_positively/) seriously and positively about Yang’s idea and his run for President. Chieng noted that he is not a citizen of the US.
Yang [tweeted](https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1149445437839106056) about Amazon’s $700M retraining efforts.
> [@](#):
>
> Amazon committing $700 million to retraining workers is a sign of just how big the automation problem is
Yang is mentioned in that [article](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/technology/amazon-workers-retraining-automation.html)
> [@](#):
>
> And the fear that robots are taking jobs, and that automation will lead to mass unemployment, has grabbed the popular imagination. Magazine covers warn of a robot apocalypse. Andrew Yang, a former tech entrepreneur, is running for president partly on a platform of offering a universal income to offset jobs lost to automation. The McKinsey Global Institute predicts that up to one-third of the American work force will have to switch to new occupations by 2030.
Tomorrow, 7/13/19, Yang is holding a rally in Portland. On 7/19/19, there will be an [AARP forum](https://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/aarp-forum-will-bring-presidential-candidates-to-sioux-city-in/article_ee8b96af-16c8-5d66-b7f5-a032d4eaef43.html) with Elizabeth Warren, Beto O’Rourke, Andrew Yang and Marianne Williamson in Sioux City, Iowa.
---
### Author:  [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2019, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/447 "2019-07-26T00:13:05Z")
The Yang rally in Portland went [great](https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1150161727859781632). The energy was great. I enjoyed watching it.
Yang was on Recode Decode ([podcast](https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/vox/recode-decode/e/62665829)) with Kara Swisher. There was a Facebook video live that was fun to watch.
Yang did an [AARP forum](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXQ3DEFI1eg) with 3 other Presidential candidates (they were all on separately but on the same day). IMO, he nailed it at that one. He differentiated the benefits of the Freedom Dividend over $15/hr min wage.
Yesterday, there was an [AMA with Yang](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/ch8gph/iama_andrew_yang_candidate_for_president_of_the/) on the subReddit. There had been a contest last month between Facebook and Reddit to see who could get to $10K donations to the campaign faster. As a reward, Reddit got the AMA hosted there.
The AMA was crossposted on r/politics and r/AMA and made the front page of Reddit. Because of that, over 2K people (close to 3K) joined the sub in a day. The sub went from 29K to 32K in a day and a half. At the time of the AMA, there were 10K visiting the sub. Some of the questions that Yang didn’t answer were answered by the Yang Gang.
Here’s a [graph](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/ce0sij/subreddit_growth_since_january_1st_2019_for_dem/) of the other candidates’ subs’ growth taken before the AMA.
The campaign needs 4 qualifying polls to hit 2% or higher to qualify for the September debates. There was one earlier in the month. A new [Fox News poll](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/2020_democratic_presidential_nomination-6730.html) also counts. There’s still a tiny bit of dispute over whether the NBCNews/Survey Monkey poll counts. If it does, they’re at 3 out of 4 polls. If not, 2 more polls to go. Yang [says](https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1154541514040549376) (from the green room of The Daily Show) that the 3rd counts, so hopefully it does.
The Yang Gangers are phonebanking and canvassing to try to reach more people. The phonebankers say that the people they talk with are all 50 years or older. They’re trying to find ways to reach that demographic. There’s a [Boomers for Andrews Yang youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FvaDb-aR7Y&feature=youtu.be), but the viewcount is still very small.
Tonight, 7/25/19, Yang appears on _The Daily Show with Trevor Noah_. Then on July 31, it’s the second debate on CNN.
---
### Author:  [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2019, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/448 "2019-07-26T22:40:55Z")
Andrew Yang and Michael Bennet [goofing](https://twitter.com/MichaelBennet/status/1154758591901065218) around on twitter. Hilariousl
> [@](#):
>
> Andrew, how did you know I got a C in precalculus in high school — on the retake.
> [@](#):
>
> I would like to signal to the press that I will be attacking Michael Bennet at next week’s debate. Sorry @MichaelBennet but you know what you did.
> [@](#):
>
> If I only get 3 minutes of talking time in the next debate I’m still using all of them to attack @MichaelBennet
::[gif](https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1154830980060012545) of two penguins, one slapping down the other.
> [@](#):
>
> Just confirmed with debate officials that @AndrewYang’s microphone will be muted during my rebuttal.
::[gif](https://twitter.com/MichaelBennet/status/1154840373375700992)of a penguin with the caption - come at me bro
[CNN](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/ci809q/the_twitter_banter_with_bennet_made_a_cameo/) got the joke.
Between the tweets, both Bennet and Yang tweeted out some of their policies.
One of the things I like about the Yang campaign is that he sometimes shows glimpses of what it’s like behind the scenes. At one of his interviews, he said, do you know what we do during the breaks at the debate? We go get our make-up done. The whole thing is manufactured for TV.
The [interview](http://www.cc.com/video-clips/fdu0au/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-andrew-yang---bringing-bold-and-unique-ideas-to-his-2020-white-house-bid---extended-interview?xrs=synd_twitter_072619_tds_30) with Trevor Noah went well. The audience was great.
Next up, the debate on Wednesday 7/31/19.
---
### Author:  [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2019, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/449 "2019-08-08T05:16:33Z")
Andrew Yang’s second debate went much better than the first.\* He got some good press from it, a bunch of social media increases and more donations since the debate.
The Yang Gang was pleased because the [idea](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/ch8gph/iama_andrew_yang_candidate_for_president_of_the/euqerwx/?context=10000) for Yang to talk about how the debate was like a reality tv show came from the sub. Someone in the sub wrote out a whole statement to read out in the debate. Then someone gave the statement to Yang in the AMA that Yang held for the sub. Yang said he’d take a look at it, which he evidently did.
My favorite [picture](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/cl757t/andrew_yang_in_an_elevator_with_inslee_gabbard/) from the debate: [Andrew Yang in an elevator with Inslee, Gabbard, Gillibrand, and Booker!](https://imgur.com/1Wo98wL) [they look like they’re sharing an inside joke] My [second](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/ckqeub/had_a_great_time_at_the_debates_last_night_was/) favorite: [Yang and Biden.](https://i.imgur.com/f9xKznd.jpg)
Secular Talk (Kyle Kulinski, progressive youtuber) thought that [Yang did much better](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaK-nM9Z8KE). David Pakman, another progressive youtuber, felt that [Yang won the debate](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfXLQ0gnWvc), along with Biden.
Whoopi Goldberg gave Yang a shout-out the day before the debate, the [day of the debate](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/ckby7j/whoopi_goldberg_promotes_andrew_yang_again_today/) and the [day after the debate](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/ckugvd/3rd_day_in_a_row_of_whoopi_going_in_for_yang/) on The View.
Van Jones was [literally shouting](https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1156779217281007616) Yang Gang after the debate.
Some voters in Flint, MI liked Yang’s message.
[‘Everybody Uses Us.’ What It Was Like to Watch the Democratic Debate in Flint, Michigan](https://time.com/5641038/democratic-debate-flint-voters/)
> [@](#):
>
> Smith came to the debate thinking he wanted to hear from Harris or Booker, but found himself listening closely to Yang. “He was really talking about real issues, not just attacking and playing the politics game. He had his math together,” said Smith. “He’s not the usual candidate.” Other voters at the watch party agreed: in an informal poll conducted after the debate, Yang won overwhelmingly.
From [The Root](https://www.theroot.com/democratic-debates-day-2-andrew-yang-won-the-night-c-1836885244?utm_medium=socialflow&utm_source=theroot_twitter) in Flint, MI.
> [@](#):
>
> While Bell and others are looking inward to keep Flint afloat, most of the people in the room really liked Andrew Yang and believed he spoke to their issues better than the other candidates.
>
> “His context sounds like President Obama. He’s talking about jobs,” Bell said. “He’s talking about opportunities. He was on The Breakfast Club talking about how, by 2025, the jobs for many African Americans will be gone if we don’t do something about our economy. I love what he has to say about the economy and financial literacy.”
>
> Like Bell and most people at the forum, I think Yang won last night’s debate because of his clarity, lack of overcomplicated language and his messaging, which showed he cared about the people of Detroit and the rest of the state. He came across as very blue-collar—he is not—and resonated with the working class. Few other people on the stage pulled that off.
While this isn’t official (a Yang volunteer put it together, it looks like), the [chart](https://twitter.com/EricQuachSpeaks/status/1157099748458786816) shows that Yang led the candidates in adding the most twitter followers after the debate. Yang has added roughly about 74K new twitter followers, 25K coming the day of the debate, and roughly about 10K new subs to the Yang subreddit since the debate.
Since the debate, Yang has[raised](https://twitter.com/krystalball/status/1159117806358683653) over $1M, with 87% of the money coming from new donors. The campaign is planning on using that money for ad buys in the early states.
Yang still needs one more qualifying poll with 2% or higher to qualify for the September debate. Last month, Yang had a 2% in a qualifying poll from NBC/WSJ and then one from NBC/Survey Monkey. After asking DNC for direction on whether it qualified for weeks, Yang announced his qualifying with both polls. Within 24 hours, DNC pronounced that only one of the the polls counted.
Yang has been on [H3H3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otEbT0l_Hbg&feature=youtu.be) (youtube channel), [talked](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8_15ydSNN0) with Ali Velshi and [Anderson Cooper](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1o1ekwWNEY). Another Anderson Cooper talk is in the works.
\*It turns out that Yang was very ill the day of the first debate. He said he had an IV that day because of his illness. He didn’t mention that to anyone, especially the press. I’m guessing that it would have looked like an excuse. He talks about it [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1658&v=d22ccVw6_0A) in a recent supporter gathering, contrasting the first debate with the second debate.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2019, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/450 "2019-08-08T19:40:43Z")
Yang just qualified for the 3rd debate:
> **[9 Candidates Now Qualify For The September Democratic Primary Debate](https://www.npr.org/2019/08/08/749412337/9-candidates-now-qualify-for-the-september-democratic-primary-debate)**
>
> Andrew Yang crossed the threshold Thursday, and two other candidates are on the cusp of qualifying. That means there could again be two debate nights next month instead of just one.
> [@](#):
>
> Entrepreneur Andrew Yang is the ninth Democrat to qualify for September’s next presidential primary debates.
>
> Yang crossed the threshold on Thursday after a Monmouth poll in Iowa put him at 2% support. He had previously hit the donor requirements of 130,000 unique donors from 20 different states. His campaign previously said he qualified outright based on an earlier poll, but the Democratic National Committee said it wouldn’t count that poll.
---
### Author:  [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)
#### Post date: [August 8, 2019, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/451 "2019-08-08T19:56:31Z")
Oh well. Thought all the joke candidates would be cut for the next round.
---
### Author:  [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2019, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/452 "2019-08-09T05:03:34Z")
> [@CarnalK](#):
>
> Oh well. Thought all the joke candidates would be cut for the next round.
If you’re beating 2/3 of the field, which includes people who’ve won statewide offices, you’re not a joke candidate – or if you are a joke, you’re not a funny one to those who aren’t qualifying for the next debate.
---
### Author:  [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2019, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/453 "2019-08-09T05:28:04Z")
> [@asahi](#):
>
> If you’re beating 2/3 of the field, which includes people who’ve won statewide offices, you’re not a joke candidate – or if you are a joke, you’re not a funny one to those who aren’t qualifying for the next debate.
When there’s 20+ candidates, that is a unreliable metric for “joke candidate”. I’m going to stick with “he’s got super stupid ideas and lies about them” for my categorizationing. Yes, I’m well aware who that would also cover.
---
### Author:  [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2019, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/454 "2019-08-09T08:26:32Z")
> [@CarnalK](#):
>
> Oh well. Thought all the joke candidates would be cut for the next round.
Don’t worry, I’m sure John Delaney will be cut, hang in there bud.
---
### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2019, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/455 "2019-08-09T15:15:18Z")
> [@CarnalK](#):
>
> When there’s 20+ candidates, that is a unreliable metric for “joke candidate”. I’m going to stick with “he’s got super stupid ideas and lies about them” for my categorizationing. Yes, I’m well aware who that would also cover.
Let’s assume that the debate stage ends with maybe Castro and either Gabbard or Steyer just also making the cut. A total of ten, one night.
This I think will give Yang a bit more of a look-see by some. Yeah, I completely agree that his ideas are stupid and that he lies about them. But that never stopped some from supporting someone. He’d likely move up a few percent, not into contender range obviously, but who would he be poaching from?
Definitely no overlap with Biden. Those who fall off of Biden will go to one of the other three in the pack below him. They are not looking for one of the, as Nate Silver has put it, “more eccentric candidates .”
Sure maybe some of the other dropping out eccentric ones, like Gabbard and Williamson, but I think any potential rise of Yang pulls most of all from Sanders, pulling Sanders closer to his hard cement floor.
Which might help Warren as then some others who saw Sanders as a real contender look elsewhere too, and she MIGHT benefit more from that than Biden would (and pretty sure more than Harris would).
So on net any rise for him is likely fairly neutral to Biden, helps Warren, hurts Harris, and further seals Sanders’ state as at most hoping to spoil it for someone else.
Initially I had thought that Yang might get UBI part of the discussion in the debates. I don’t think so any more. I don’t think many others will engage about it or pick it up.
The fact that Alaska’s version, from the oil based Alaska Permanent Fund, is now resulting in basic services and promised scholarship monies being clawed back to support it, does not play well right now either.
---
### Author:  [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)
#### Post date: [August 9, 2019, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/456 "2019-08-09T15:28:32Z")
I would agree Sanders is the likely loser of any Yang gains but I doubt any bump will be outside of the margin of error.
---
### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2019, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/457 "2019-08-10T21:52:55Z")
Elon Musk endorsed Yang
> **[Elon Musk: ‘I support Yang’](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/456967-elon-musk-i-support-yang/)**
>
> Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Saturday indicated support for Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang after Yang tweeted that he didn’t expect supporters to agree with him on everyth…
---
### Author:  [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2019, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/458 "2019-08-11T02:00:54Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> Yang just qualified for the 3rd debate:
Adding another quote from another publication:
[Yang surpasses Beto in Iowa poll, qualifies for fall debates](https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/08/andrew-yang-qualifies-democratic-debates-1453030)
> [@](#):
>
> Yang crossed the second of two required debate thresholds on Thursday, when he polled at 2 percent in a Monmouth University poll in Iowa. He had previously received at least 2 percent in three other polls approved by the Democratic National Committee and has hit the required 130,000 unique donor mark.
>
> At the other end of the spectrum, onetime Democratic phenom Beto O’Rourke was outperformed in the poll by Yang, clocking in at under 1 percent.
>
> Yang is the ninth candidate to qualify for a pair of debates: one in mid-September and one sometime in October. He joins Joe Biden, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren on stage.
Qualifying for the September debates also qualifies Yang for the October debate since they both have the same qualification.
The H3 main youtube has been viewed 1M times in 2 days and hit number 4 in trending. Ethan broke the video down into several pieces that also got an additional aggregate of about 700K views. It was competing with Bernie Sanders’ interview with Joe Rogan which was topping the chart at #1 and had 6.7M views in the same 2 days. Considering that the second debate had roughly 8.7M viewers, that’s a pretty nice viewership, all concentrated on one person each. I enjoyed both interviews.
Yang spoke at a [supporter meeting](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=848SPtnKMh8) the day before he qualified for the 3rd debate, talking about some events in the campaign. First, I’m pleased to see that the composition of the crowd is much more diverse than in the early days of the campaign. In the very early days, the demographic was young males. At this meeting, many more groups are represented.
The campaign has currently raised $2.6M for the quarter so far. Since a big chunk of that money came after the debate, Yang is hoping for a big boost after the third debate. He’s aiming for $5M for this quarter.
Yang said that they’re planning a rally in Houston around the time of the third debate. They’re also involved in events hosted by Jack Dorsey (of twitter and Squarespace), Sam Altman (of Y Combinator) and Alexis Ohanian (of Reddit) in the next few months.
He says that the campaign has a stack of resumes from people who are now working on the other campaigns because the Yang campaign is on the rise. They just hired someone to help coordinate Yang’s field operations who used to work for the Sanders campaign in another cycle and is now working on a campaign that is “flaming out”.
Yang also mentions that the Yang 2020 website had been visited over a million times since the debate with most of the people visiting the policies page. There are now over 100 policies on the [policies page](https://www.yang2020.com/policies/). They’re now divided into categories.
Yang was in Iowa at the Iowa State Fair. [Last year](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjaMqNUwD3I), at this same event was the start of his campaign. As he says, what a difference a year makes. Last year, he couldn’t get anyone to stop to listen. [This year](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XOYXow89d0), he couldn’t move around without people with cameras [impeding his progress](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO0Pq64UTHI). Multiple people ran alongside Yang to ask him loaded questions. I’ve already seen some of them in articles. Zach, Yang’s campaign manager, tried his best to shield Yang away from some of the more obnoxious stuff.
Elon Musk and Dan Carlin (Hardcore History) on [twitter](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1160253482424684544):
> [@](#):
>
> Yang: I don’t expect people to agree with me on everything- that would be odd. My main hope is that people trust that I’m trying to solve problems and I’m open to different approaches - particularly if the data drives in a particular direction. Changing one’s mind is not a bad thing
> Dan Carlin: How weird that this should be a somewhat novel thing to say.
> Elon Musk: I support Yang
> Harry Stoltz: Thoughts on UBI?
> Elon Musk: Obviously needed
> Elon Musk: He would our first openly goth president. I think this is very important.
> Yang: Thank you Elon - this means a great deal. Congrats on building the future.
This tweet was posted in the Elon Musk sub. as well. Maybe because of this (?), there are now 3K people viewing the sub. Two months ago, the average was a few hundred. After the debate, it turned into about a thousand. (The goth comment was about [this article](https://theslot.jezebel.com/andrew-yang-wants-to-be-americas-first-ex-goth-presiden-1834116197) and Yang’s high school picture.)
Ethan Klein, of H3H3, [confirmed](https://twitter.com/h3h3productions/status/1160296503308505090?s=19) as Yang Gang. He’s been defending Yang in multiple tweets since the interview.
[An analysis](https://readsludge.com/2019/08/08/wealthy-white-and-over-50-the-demographics-of-the-democratic-presidential-donors/) of the individual donors contributing over $200 to a campaign shows that Andrew Yang had the [most donors](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/cnrdmc/most_of_andrews_supporters_are_young_this_bolds/) in the 18-34 age category, followed by Bernie Sanders. Yang’s donors were spread fairly evenly across the age spectrum. Elizabeth Warren’s donors, by contrast were almost half 65+ years old. Yang, Tulsi and Castro all had more people of color represented in their individual donor base (more than $200) than the other candidates.
> [@](#):
>
> The majority of the candidates received a larger share of their itemized donations from white donors than the national percentage of the U.S. population that is white, according to the most recent census (72%). Tulsi Gabbard, Andrew Yang, and Julian Castro—all people of color—each received less than 72% of their donation totals from white people. The candidate with the highest share of white support was Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), with 97.8% of his fundraising total coming from white donors, followed by four fellow centrist or moderate candidates (Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney).
I don’t follow other campaign subs so I don’t know if this happens in other subs, but followers of other campaigns often drop by to [donate](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/cojaro/im_a_bernie_supporter_but_after_watching_him_on/) or lend support to the Yang sub, especially from the Bernie, Mayor Pete, Trump, Tulsi and Marianne campaigns. The other campaigns beyond those don’t have much of a Reddit presence. The other thing that happens often is that people [post](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/coa632/got_my_voter_registration_switched_to_dem_so_i/) about changing from Republican to Democrat in the primary to vote for Yang. On a side note, I’ve come to appreciate some of the twitter and youtube commenters who have been unexpectedly gracious and open-minded when given information about Yang.
A Yang Ganger went to Anchorage Alaska to [talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGeHaAEkB1E) to one of the people who started the Alaska Permanent Fund. He says that the problems surrounding the fund today have to do with government corruption. He also [interviewed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8yCx85wQes) a few people in Alaska about what they thought about the Freedom Dividend.
Yang was in the gun safety forum in Des Moines, IA. He [broke down in tears](https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4812424/andrew-yang-responds-emotionally-parents-testimony-gun-violence) when he heard a woman talking about her 4 year old getting shot while the twin watched. Yang has two boys, 6 and 3. Yang’s proposal is to allow the owners of guns to upgrade their guns to personalized guns, subsidized by the government. That way, only the owner of the gun can shoot the gun.
On preview: I was scooped on the Elon Musk tweet, but I’ll leave it in.
---
### Author:  [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2019, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/459 "2019-08-25T02:47:16Z")
Andrew Yang’s campaign has hit some round number milestone markers.
Donors just hit 200K.
Donations just passed $3.5M for the quarter. (now very close to $4M)
Subs on reddit just past 50K. (now 53.9K)
Twitter followers passed 700K. (now 717K)
A [map](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/02/us/politics/2020-democratic-fundraising.html) of Yang’s donors shows they’re pretty evenly spread through the country.
An ex-staffer of the Yang campaign, Jonathan Herzog, is running to challenge Rep. Nadler in 2020 on Yang’s platform of the Freedom Dividend. It’s nice that he’s using the same concepts, but he needs some of his own words. [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhG_FLOg8EA) is word for word like a Yang speech with a different person. Still, it’s good that more people on running on the Freedom Dividend platform.
[David Kim](https://twitter.com/davidkim2020) in CA is also running on a UBI platform. There are a couple others as well.
This fun video of Yang has been getting a few mentions. On the campaign trail, Yang jumped into a jazzercise class. Zach, Yang’s campaign manager, got [one angle](https://twitter.com/Zach_Graumann/status/1162147217815298054). A reporter shadowing them that day got [another angle](https://twitter.com/michaelkruse/status/1162142928954974209).
That reporter wrote this article on Politico. [The Surprising Surge of Andrew Yang](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/08/22/andrew-yang-2020-president-profile-227631)
In response to the article, [Noah Smith](https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1165009270791753728) (writer) tweets
> [@](#):
>
> Andrew Yang is for real, it seems!
> . . .
> I realize what I like about Andrew Yang. It’s not his policies. It’s not even that he’s fresh and different.
>
> It’s that he seems unflappable. In this age of fear, he’s completely unafraid.
> . . .
> LBJ once said of FDR that in the 1930s, Roosevelt was the only person he knew who was never afraid.
Yang’s [breakfast of champions](https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1164577121043243009) is a Belvita breakfast cookie. I’m thinking of trying it. Then again, I’ve seen him eating Doritos, pizza, turkey legs and other assorted junk food. I don’t think I’ll be trying those out.
Yang just [spoke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frmYjKpH49g) at the DNC meeting.
Rachel Maddow did a small piece that was fairly positive (bad quality [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXAzOQh7Ats))
> [@](#):
>
> When he talks, it lands. In part because he’s saying things that are unique. . . . In Detroit, in debate 2, even stronger. He not only got some big applause in the room, he also again talked about stuff, including the economy, in ways that wasn’t like a single other candidate on the stage. It didn’t make him sound weird. It just set him apart, and it worked in the room.
There are a number of youtube channels that feature Yang in a positive light.
[Nerds for Andrew Yang](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZcDgWig0A-ZLfCmReFBVjQ)
[Paget Kagy](https://www.youtube.com/user/sparkleblue27)
[American Jobs Factory](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe3ylH5SzUHHYt3IAo5sYMw)
Tom at Nerds for Andrew Yang did an [interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBLsFpp7ZNs) with Scott Santens, who is a staunch advocate for UBI. They talked about Yang’s UBI plan and the campaign. He answered a few questions on how UBI works, the benefits and debunked some concerns. Scott Santens spoke about a march for UBI in September in NY.
The Yang Gang have created a couple tools to explain some of the concepts in the campaign or help find answers. Someone created [Yanglinks.com](https://www.yanglinks.com/) which is a website that people can search for timestamped clips of videos of Yang. There is also a [website](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/cnssfc/how_well_pay_for_the_freedom_dividend_website/) that some people put together to break down the Freedom Dividend further.
Another Yang Ganger put together a [video](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/csxhy7/been_working_on_this_video_over_the_past_month/) for the campaign with Yang clips.
There’s so much creativity in the Yang Gang. They often joke that if they’re all bots as so many people in the media insist, then Yang is right, the bots are about to take over.
Some recent random tweets.
[Vicky Larson](https://twitter.com/OMGchronicles/status/1165267224635904000) (writer) on Yang’s policy of free marital counseling
> [@](#):
>
> It’s refreshing to hear a presidential candidate address the challenges of parenting today, and not just about work-life balance and parental leave.
[Carla Marinucci](https://twitter.com/cmarinucci/status/1165027383394439169?s=20)(writer) on Yang’s DNC speech
> [@](#):
>
> So on a day that the stock market tanked, and worries about tarrifs booming, @AndrewYang was strangely the only candidate who talked at length about economic impacts on Americans at #DNC19 – a sharp, focused and entertaining speech, one of the better moments of the day.
[Adam Singer](https://twitter.com/AdamSinger/status/1165317986363666432?s=20) on the marijuana MATH hat (500 sold out in less than 3 hours)
> [@](#):
>
> Why the entire country doesn’t already support you I have no idea.
[Joe Garofoli](https://twitter.com/joegarofoli/status/1165027261864562688?s=20) (writer) on Yang’s DNC speech
> [@](#):
>
> .@AndrewYang – the only presidential candidate who has not run for office before – delivered one of the most engaging speeches @DNC #DNC19 . Talked about the need to address the future of work in the US
The Yang Gang has a marathon phonebank session livestreaming event going on.
---
### Author:  [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2019, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-andrew-yang-presidential-campaign-thread/829555/460 "2019-09-05T02:21:22Z")
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#):
>
> Andrew Yang’s campaign has hit some round number milestone markers.
>
> Donors just hit 200K.
> Donations just passed $3.5M for the quarter. (now very close to $4M)
> Subs on reddit just past 50K. (now 53.9K)
> Twitter followers passed 700K. (now 717K)
Since the last update 10 days ago,
Donors just passed 209K
Donations just passed $5M for the quarter
Subs on reddit at 57.6K
Twitter followers passed 750K (at 753K)
Andrew Yang put out his new [climate change policy](https://www.yang2020.com/blog/climate-change/), more detailed than his previous policy.
Yang’s campaign hired Tim Ryan’s national organizational director
[Tim Ryan’s national organizing director joins Andrew Yang’s campaign in same role](https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2019/08/29/iowa-caucus-2020-tim-ryan-andrew-yang-national-organizing-director-leaves-staff-democratic/2150614001/)
> [@](#):
>
> Yang’s campaign spokeswoman Hilary Kinney said that Zach Fang joined their staff as national organizing director on Aug. 1.
>
> Fang was one of two Iowa-based staffers working for Ryan, although much of his work focused on the national level. Ryan’s state director, Chris Bowen, is the only Iowa staffer left.
Axios wrote an article about how the media attention to Yang doesn’t match his poll rankings.
[Andrew Yang gets media cold shoulder](https://www.axios.com/andrew-yang-2020-media-attention-acc2652a-e43b-45fb-8e88-42e606ab0be8.html)
> [@](#):
>
> Despite polling in the top 6 of the Democratic primary and getting plenty of online attention, businessman Andrew Yang is being treated by the media like a bottom-tier candidate.
>
> Why it matters: The discrepancy between demonstrated voter support and the level of media coverage — both on cable and in the online world — shows that the press is in unfamiliar territory in covering a candidate from outside the political world who keeps a low profile.
In the graphic, Yang is shown polling in 6th place, tweeted about during debates in 4th place, articles written about him in 14th place and cable news mentions in 13th place.
Tara McKelvey, BBC writer [commented](https://twitter.com/Tara_Mckelvey/status/1168878746239156225?s=19)
> [@](#):
>
> He’s been frozen out of the national media, as @nrothschild3 and @sarafischer explain, but the Yang Gang is super-devoted and know how to work social media. During the debate next week, he’s the one to watch
Krystal Ball of The Hill talked with Kyle Kulinski of Secular Talk about the article on youtube
[Progressive commentator Kyle Kulinski: Why the media dismisses Gabbard, Yang, and Sanders](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXVFE2hnouo)
There was a [CNN graphic](https://twitter.com/johniadarola/status/1166719139668357126?s=20) claiming to be the top 6 candidates in a Quinnipiac poll. The top 6 included Beto at 1% and excluded Yang at 3%. After the Yang Gang brought it to people’s attention on twitter, [CNN later apologized](https://old.reddit.com/r/YangForPresidentHQ/comments/cx72s3/cnn_apologizes/) to the campaign and changed the graphic.
To be clear, Yang (and most of the Yang Gang) are not considering any of this a conspiracy theory. But it’s clearly happening and should be pointed out.
[Chris Cillizza’s take](https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/04/politics/andrew-yang-2020/index.html) on why Yang is overlooked. Cillizza has been writing about and had a video piece about Yang long before any of this happened. And yet, Cillizza chose to place Steyer in his top 10 ranking instead of Yang, even though Steyer hadn’t made the debate stage (and didn’t make it for Sept.) and Yang had. Cillizza’s take was that Steyer had a better chance because Steyer has more money. Cillizza says that the placement of Steyer over Yang was a mistake and will be corrected in the next ranking.
Cillizza’s reasons for the media ignoring Yang are that he’s an outsider with radically different ideas and the Ron Paul experience.
> [@](#):
>
> The broader point here is that there are legitimate, non-media conspiracy reasons to explain why Yang isn’t getting noticed as much as he should be.
>
> But candidly, he **should** be getting more attention. If the 2016 election taught us anything, it’s that voters are very sick of the status quo and politics as usual. Writing off Yang’s candidacy because of his lack of political background or willingness to talk about less high-profile issues isn’t a mistake we should make.
Mary Jordan on ABC’s This Week, [talked](https://twitter.com/rfk2020/status/1168208467838021634?s=20) about Andrew Yang and then defended him when another person on the panel tried to dismiss him as polling at 2% and not being one of the 3 top candidates. He said that people say that the race is between the top 3 and maybe one or two more. [OK, but Yang is in 6th place, so he only has to overtake one person to be part of that race.]
Mary Jordan: “I’ll tell you why it matters. He’s directly addressing the pain in the country. . . . He’s saying basically that the middle class is hurting. A lot of people talk about the 1% and the poor. But what about us? The average savings in a household in America is only $12K.”
Yang did a climate change town hall on CNN today. [Part 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS9bfeY44yc) and [Part 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_fLeFBL7fg). (not official videos) It looks like it was well received by some.
[Yang hits the ball out of the park](https://www.cnn.com/opinions/live-news/live-commentary-climate-crisis-town-hall/h_7b7b3c7a9c72a81880c1a4ae9b5d095b)
[From the Sunrise Movement](https://twitter.com/sunrisemvmt/status/1169369261283991552):
> [@](#):
>
> Deep and yet simple point from @AndrewYang at the #ClimateTownHall. Our economy cannot just be about dollars. It’s about the well-being of people, who live on and rely on our planet.
>
> “We can’t fall into this false dichotomy that what’s good for the planet is bad for the economy”
Whoopi Goldberg pressed Bernie Sanders on why he wasn’t following Andrew Yang’s plan on [The View](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGgERRE-M-Q&t=15m58s). (not an official video)
Yang will be in New Hampshire on Saturday 9/7/19 at the NH Dem Convention. Then he’s flying to LA to meet with a “someone very cool” on Sunday.
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