印第安纳州西拉斐特。-伯尼·桑德斯长期以来，他一直认为——但没有被证明——他的大政府民粹主义可以赢得在最近的选举中涌向共和党人唐纳德·特朗普的大部分白人农村社区的选民。
现在，作为一个3.5万亿美元的预算提案，桑德斯认为他还有另一个机会来检验这个理论。
这位佛蒙特州参议员本周末在特朗普国家，推动一项预算计划充满了进步的倡议通过对高收入者征收更高的税来融资。他的目标是特朗普在2016年至2020年间投票总数增加的两个国会选区。
“我的共和党同事告诉所有人，伯尼·桑德斯和民主党将提高税收。你说得对，我们要把他们养在这个国家最富有的人身上，”周五晚上，桑德斯在印第安纳州西拉斐特的一个露天圆形剧场，面对2000多名冒着酷热和潮湿的人的欢呼声说。
桑德斯周日在爱荷华州锡达拉皮兹也有类似的活动。他指出了两党之间的差异，因为国会共和党人过去几年批准了对美国富人的减税，但预计他们将普遍反对桑德斯称之为自上世纪30年代富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福新政以来“最重要的一项立法”的计划。
面对进步运动，这可能是一次艰难的推销。共和党人已经开始在广告中使用桑德斯——以及民主党社会主义者、纽约州众议员亚历山大·奥卡西奥·科尔特斯——警告选民，美国正在向社会主义靠拢。
桑德斯在2016年民主党爱荷华州党团会议上差点获胜，这是他的政治明星首次在全国范围内崭露头角，他在那年的印第安纳州民主党初选中击败了希拉里·克林顿。随着桑德斯将自己的政党推向左翼，并吸引了对主流民主党感到沮丧的选民，他和他的支持者主张超越传统基础，向白人工人阶级发出呼吁，以吸引共和党或非共和党人。
“他在许多不仅仅是进步的观众中有很高的可信度，”进步倡导组织“工作家庭党”的国家主任莫里斯·米切尔说。“他一个外人。他是民粹主义者。事实上，我们一直说的对右翼民粹主义最有效的东西是进步民粹主义。”
但桑德斯对特朗普选民有特殊影响力的证据有限。根据皮尤研究中心(Pew Research Center)的数据，在2016年初选期间一贯支持桑德斯并被证实在大选中投票的人中，只有约3%的人表示最终支持特朗普，相比之下，81%的人表示投票给民主党提名人希拉里·克林顿。
美联社-NORC公共事务研究中心2020年2月的一项民意调查发现，17%的共和党人对桑德斯有好感，与对拜登有好感的共和党人比例大致相同。
桑德斯正在根据一项预算提案重新阐述自己的观点，该提案承诺普及学前教育和免费社区大学，同时增加联邦政府对儿童保育、带薪探亲假和应对气候变化的资助。它还通过医疗保险扩大了医疗保健覆盖面，为该国数百万非法移民创造了获得公民身份的途径，并鼓励各州通过有利于劳工的法律。
共和党人表示，该计划充斥着不必要的支出和增税。但是民主党人，只要他们保持团结，无论如何都可以利用他们在每个国会议院的微弱优势强行通过。
“这是人民的预算。桑德斯在周五集会前接受采访时说:“这份预算将影响这个国家数千万人的生活:老人、儿童、工薪家庭、中产阶级。”因此，我认为预算委员会主席应该出去到全国各地，听听人们的意见。解释一下我们想做什么。"
尽管桑德斯正前往红色州，但他的行程并没有完全进入敌对地区。他2016年和2020年的总统竞选很受大学生欢迎，西拉斐特是普渡大学的所在地。周五的许多与会者都是大学生，穿着桑德斯过去竞选时的衬衫。当这位参议员说他支持取消所有学生债务时，一些最响亮的欢呼声传来了——尽管预算提案并没有走得那么远。
同样，桑德斯在爱荷华州仍然很受欢迎，这意味着周日的活动可能会吸引更多他的长期支持者，而不是潜在的可说服的共和党人。
尽管如此，有人认为桑德斯的总统竞选活动在激励富裕的自由主义者方面比在扩大他的政党在交叉选民中的吸引力方面更为成功，桑德斯对此嗤之以鼻。
“一项又一项民意调查显示，美国人民希望最富有的人，大公司，支付他们应得的份额。这不是富裕的自由主义者，这是美国工人阶级，”桑德斯说。
预算提案的关键部分得到了一些两党的支持。A美联社-NORC 7月民调发现至少十分之四的共和党人表示支持为免费学前教育、经济适用房、宽带互联网和本地交通提供资金，接近十分之三的共和党人报告支持为免费社区学院提供资金。
桑德斯此行之前，美国总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)和他的盟友在全国各地旅行，以促进政府加强冠状病毒大流行后经济的努力。两位前总统竞选对手桑德斯和拜登没有计划一起旅行来推动拟议的预算，尽管桑德斯表示他不会反对这样做。
最近几天，政府的经济议程因以下因素而黯然失色阿富汗的暴力和混乱。但桑德斯说，来自不同政治派别的美国人都明白，那里发生的事情和他们的钱包在国内“是不同的问题”
共和党人认为，桑德斯上路可能最终会在明年的中期选举中损害他的政党，届时国会的控制权将岌岌可危。
“民主党人对社会主义的拥抱帮助我们在2020年获得了席位，”全国共和党国会委员会发言人迈克·伯格(Mike Berg)说，“并将在中期选举中继续帮助我们。"
Bernie Sanders sells big government's virtues in red states
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. --Bernie Sandershas long argued — but not proved — that his big government populism can win over voters in the largely white, rural communities that flocked to Republican Donald Trump in recent elections.
Now, as the chief Senate shepherd of a$3.5 trillion budget proposal, Sanders believes he has another chance to test the theory.
The Vermont senator is in Trump country this weekend, promoting a budget planpacked with progressive initiativesand financed by higher taxes on top earners. He's targeting two congressional districts where Trump’s vote totals increased between 2016 and 2020.
“My Republican colleagues are telling everybody that Bernie Sanders and the Democrats are going to raise taxes. You're right, we’re gonna raise them on the richest people in this country,” Sanders said to the cheers of more than 2,000 who braved sweltering heat and humidity at an outdoor amphitheater in West Lafayette, Indiana on Friday evening.
Sanders has a similar event set for Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Sunday. He's noting the difference between the two parties since congressional Republicans in years past approved tax cuts for wealthy Americans but are expected to universally oppose a plan Sanders calls “the most consequential piece of legislation” since Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s.
It could be a tough sell for the face of the progressive movement. Republicans have already begun using Sanders — along with fellow democratic socialist and New York Rep Alexandria Ocasio Cortez — in ads warning voters that the country is edging toward socialism.
Sanders saw his political star first rise to national prominence by nearly winning the 2016 Democratic Iowa caucus, and he won that year's Indiana Democratic primary over Hillary Clinton. As he pushed his party to the left and drew in voters frustrated by mainstream Democrats, Sanders and his supporters advocated for reaching beyond the traditional base by making appeals to the white, working class that can attract Republicans or nonvoters.
“He has a lot of credibility with a lot of audiences that aren’t just progressive,” said Maurice Mitchell, national director of the progressive advocacy group the Working Families Party. “He an outsider. He’s a populist. And, in fact, the thing that we’ve always said works best against rightwing populism is progressive populism.”
But evidence that Sanders has particular sway with Trump voters is limited. According to data from the Pew Research Center, only about 3% percent of people who consistently supported Sanders during 2016 the primary season, and were confirmed to have voted in the general election, said they ultimately supported Trump, compared to 81% who reported voting for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll in February 2020 found that 17% of Republicans had a favorable view of Sanders, roughly the same share of Republicans who had a favorable view of Biden.
Sanders is making his case anew based on a budget proposal that promises universal pre-kindergarten and tuition-free community college, while increasing federal funding for child care, paid family leave and combating climate change. It also expands health care coverage through Medicare, creates pathways to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the country illegally and encourages states to adopt labor-friendly laws.
Republicans say the plan is loaded with unnecessary spending and tax increases. But Democrats, as long as they stay united, can use their narrow advantage in each congressional chamber to muscle it through anyway.
“This is the peoples’ budget. This is the budget that will impact tens of millions of lives in this country: the elderly, the children, the working families, the middle class,” Sanders said in an interview before Friday's rally. “So it is appropriate to me that the chairman of the budget committee get out and around the country, hear what people have to say. Explain what we’re trying to do.”
Although Sanders is heading to red states, his trip isn't exactly into hostile territory. His 2016 and 2020 presidential bids were popular with college students and West Lafayette is home to Purdue University. Many of Friday's attendees were college-aged and wore Sanders shirts from his past campaigns. Some of the loudest cheers came when the senator said he supports canceling all student debt — even though the budget proposal doesn't go nearly that far.
Sanders similarly remains popular in Iowa, which means Sunday's event there may attract far more of his longstanding supporters than potentially persuadable Republicans.
Still Sanders scoffed at suggestions that his presidential campaigns were more successful at energizing wealthy liberals than at growing his party's appeal with crossover voters.
“Poll after poll shows that the American people want the wealthiest people, large corporations, to pay their fair share. This is not wealthy liberals, this is working class Americans,” Sanders said.
There is some bipartisan support for key parts of the budget proposal. AJuly AP-NORC pollfound that at least 4 in 10 Republicans said they supported funding for free preschool, affordable housing, broadband internet, and local transit, and close to 3 in 10 reported supporting funding for free community college.
Sanders’ trip follows President Joe Biden and his allies traveling the country to promote the administration’s efforts to strengthen the post-coronavirus pandemic economy. There are no plans for Sanders and Biden, two former presidential campaign rivals, to travel together to promote the proposed budget, though Sanders said he wouldn't oppose doing so.
The administration's economic agenda has been overshadowed in recent days byviolence and chaos in Afghanistan. But Sanders says Americans from across the political spectrum understand that what's occurring there and with their pocketbooks back home "are separate issues.”
Republicans believe Sanders hitting the road could ultimately hurt his party during next year's midterms, when control of Congress is at stake.
“Democrats’ embrace of socialism helped us pick up seats in 2020,” said National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Berg "and will continue to help us in the midterms.”
