Democrats maintain respectful campaign as polls tighten
The Democratic party may well have a new campaign style underway: mutual respect.
While Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders leads former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by nine points in New Hampshire polls, Ms. Clinton has eleven points over Mr. Sanders in Iowa 鈥� a lead has tightened since July, when she was 24 points ahead of Sanders, a new NBC News/Marist reports. (View the full poll results for and .)
Despite Sanders and Clinton鈥檚 tightening race, the two are focused on advocating their political agendas rather than tearing each other apart, a welcome respite from the Republican field.
"I know the media would like me to attack Hillary Clinton and say all kinds of terrible things and tell the world that I鈥檓 the greatest candidate in the history of the world," said Sanders in an with the Washington Post. "Nobody believes that stuff."
At a recent rally, Clinton reiterated her promise to stick to what matters, saying, "Other candidates may be out there hurling insults at everyone, talking about what鈥檚 wrong with America and who鈥檚 to blame for it, but I鈥檓 going to keep doing that I鈥檝e always done: fight for you and fight for your families."
Some of Clinton鈥檚 key policy proposals include reducing student loan debt, prioritizing family-friendly issues, such as tax relief for working families and providing quality child care, and 鈥渃utting the red tape鈥� when it comes to small businesses, as her official campaign details.
According to the Washington Post, 鈥淪anders regularly highlights policy areas where they [he and Clinton] differ,鈥� though he hasn鈥檛 directly opposed her by name. Clinton has not taken a position on two of Sanders's key issues: re-instituting and blocking the . In addition, Sanders has mentioned a desire to reverse some of the trade policies that then-Secretary of State Clinton had a hand in, and he has discussed demilitarizing American police forces "so they don鈥檛 look and act like invading armies," states his campaign .
"It's not personal," said Sanders , shrugging off questions about Clinton and rumored newcomer to the race Vice President Joe Biden. "What the American people want to know is how we reverse the decline of the middle class, how we address poverty, why we're the only major country on Earth that doesn't have a family and medical leave policy, and those are the issues that I'm going to stay on."
For now, voters can enjoy the respectful tone of the Democratic campaign, but come October 13聽鈥撀爐he date of the first primary debate聽鈥撀爐he candidates may have to lay out their differences more overtly.
