On Friday, CNN host Chris Cuomo appeared on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.” During the segment, Maher and Cuomo discussed the fact that three of the four members of “the Squad” endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for president.
MAHER: So, three-fourths of the squad came out for Bernie Sanders.
CUOMO: Yes, they did. [Laughs]
MAHER: What?
CUOMO: I just, I laugh at that because I don’t know how that “Squad” thing actually happened. Like, I don’t I don’t know why we’re calling a bunch of freshmen some kind of entity of influence in a system they just got into.
MAHER: Because they do have a lot of influence.
CUOMO: They have a lot of social media influence, they have political cache, the media loves to talk about them, but I think you have to put points on the board if you’re going to earn your office. Get things done for your constituents, not just for your own profile.
MAHER: The Squad coming out for Bernie, first thing I thought was, “That’s good for Elizabeth Warren.”
CUOMO: Because?
MAHER: Because it makes him to the left of her, and she needs to move to the middle.
CUOMO: And what always happens – it’s not unusual in politics. You know this. I’m sure all of you do also – is that [the] primary takes you to a pole or position within your party and then you try to fight your way back to the center. I think what’s going on with the Democratic Party is a little bit more extreme than we’ve seen in the past. We had a poll not too long ago that said if the person running against this president identifies as socialist, or can be identified reasonably as socialist, they lose by six points. So, I think labels matter in politics.
MAHER: They do.
CUOMO: I think … Senator Sanders has a tough time in defining “socialist” as a good thing to a capitalist society that doesn’t like the idea of that kind of distribution of assets in general, even in his own party I don’t think it really goes. I think they got a tough task.
Maher might not be far off in his belief that Sen. Sanders receiving the Squad’s endorsement might help Sen. Warren. While a certain constituency within the Democratic Party has a favorable view of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), their popularity among the general electorate is low.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), the fourth member of the Squad, did not endorse Sanders.
A Gallup poll taken approximately two months after Ocasio-Cortez entered office had the lawmaker underwater with 31% of respondents having a “favorable” view of her compared to 41% who had an “unfavorable” view.
A July poll from CBS News/YouGov showed that each member of the Squad pulled in higher negative numbers than positive numbers among respondents who knew who they were.
- Rep. Ocasio-Cortez: 23% “favorable,” 37% “unfavorable.”
- Rep. Tlaib: 18% “favorable,” 34% “unfavorable.”
- Rep. Omar: 19% “favorable, 36% “unfavorable.”
Rep. Pressley, perhaps the least-known Squad member, also pulls in negative numbers, with a 17% “favorable” rating to a 28% “unfavorable” rating.
According to an Emerson poll conducted in late-July: “Ocasio-Cortez is at 30% favorable and 47% unfavorable, Tlaib is at 26% favorable and 42% unfavorable, Omar is at 25% favorable and 46% unfavorable, and Pressley is at 24% favorable and 35% unfavorable.”
While the Squad’s endorsement may help Sen. Sanders in the primary, their poor favorability numbers might damage his credibility in the minds of the electorate in the 2020 general election were he to clinch the Democratic nomination.