The drive to shorten the American workweek may be gaining a powerful ally in the 2020 presidential race: Sen. Bernie Sanders.

"Shortening the workweek is certainly one idea that we have got to look at," Sanders said, though he also noted there are "a number of other ideas" to improve the wellbeing of American workers.

Yet Sanders' openness to an idea that's been at the fringe of policy discussions in the US for decades could give it more mainstream acceptance.

It could be similar to how his embrace of universal healthcare under Medicare for All and his call to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour became the standard among progressive Democrats in the primary.

Theoretically, cutting the number of work hours in a week is another method of curbing economic inequality but through reallocating time instead of money, giving workers a larger piece of prosperity.

Supporters of the idea argue cutting work hours could boost workplace productivity and add more leisure time for employees to tend to their personal lives.

But critics warn the move could slash worker pay and heighten employee stress levels if companies maintain current workloads with a shorter period of time to complete them.

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The drive to shorten the American workweek may be gaining a powerful ally in the 2020 presidential race: Sen. Bernie Sanders.

At the Iowa United Food and Commercial Workers forum on Sunday, Sanders was asked whether he would be open to cutting the hours of work in a week from 40 to 32 while still preserving the same rate of pay.

"Shortening the workweek is certainly one idea that we have got to look at," Sanders said, though he also noted there are "a number of other ideas" to improve the wellbeing of American workers.

Read more: It's time to switch to a 4-day working week, economists argue

Yet Sanders' openness to an idea that's been at the fringe of policy discussions in the US for decades could give it more mainstream acceptance. It could be similar to how his embrace of universal healthcare under Medicare for All and his call to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour became the standard among progressive Democrats in the primary.

The Sanders campaign did not respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.

The idea behind reducing the number of hours that Americans work is straightforward. Theoretically, its another method of curbing economic inequality but through reallocating time instead of money, giving workers a larger piece of prosperity.

Read more: Bernie Sanders rolls out sweeping plan designed to force America's largest corporations to share profits and power with workers

Supporters of the idea argue that cutting work hours could boost workplace productivity and add more leisure time for employees to tend to their personal lives. But critics warn the move could slash worker pay and heighten employee stress levels if companies maintain current workloads with a shorter period of time to complete them.

The average workweek in the United States is 40 hours a week, or five eight-hour workdays, but surveys and data show Americans are often working more than that. Data from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development show American workers last year worked around 1,786 hours on average, over 200 hours more than those in the United Kingdom and France.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that an average workweek for full-time workers was 42.5 hours in 2018.

A global comparison

Across Europe, large trade unions in Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, and the UK have all offered backing to the idea of a four-day workweek, according to the Washington Post.

Studies are starting to highlight some of the benefits. Last year, the New York Times reported that a firm in New Zealand that engaged in a four-day workweek experiment founds its employees returned to the office feeling energized and with a stronger work-life balance.

"I think we have some good experiments showing that if you reduce work hours, people are able to focus their attention more effectively, they end up producing just as much, often with higher quality and creativity, and they are also more loyal to the organizations that are willing to give them the flexibility to care about their lives outside of work," said Adam Grant, a psychologist at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year.

The idea, has not been endorsed by no other Democratic presidential candidate. And its not backed by the progressive political apparatus in the United States neither. Whether Sanders starts raising the issue regularly on the campaign trail could help determine whether it stays on the fringe or if its thrusted towards the center of political debate.