I phone banked for 3 hours for Bernie today to Iowa, from Brooklyn, after taking my 1 year old son to swimming lessons. I spoke to 6 people who were caucusing for Bernie, 2 people who were voting for Trump, and about 5-6 undecided voters/households. Of these undecideds, I want to highlight two that were substantive, and that I found the most telling of our overall political situation in this country.

Phyllis

First was a call to a 71-year-old named Phyllis. I was shuddering as the phone rang because I knew these calls to older voters don’t always go so great for us Bernie phonebankers (we all know Bernie’s disproportionate support comes from those under 50). But I got Phyllis’ husband, and he patiently got her on another line, and we all talked about Bernie. They told me that they were considering Bernie, and that they liked his policies, thought he was “the most trustworthy with money”, and that he could win against Trump. The only thing holding them back? Their concern that Bernie would be unable to enact his agenda in a recalcitrant Congress.

I told them that I shared their concern about a recalcitrant Congress killing the progressive momentum that is clearly growing in this country. I asked them, however, how they would rate President Obama in terms of productivity while in office. Their telling answer was that while President Obama was a “very fine President’ and “honorable man”, who they were proud to have had represent and lead our country in the world, he was “not at all effective in enacting his campaign promises.” I asked them if they could name any other candidate who had a different playbook from that of President Obama, i.e. bipartisan “pragmatism”, and they affirmed that Bernie was the only one with a model for political change that departed in a significant way from the traditional Democratic playbook, i.e. the use of the bully pulpit, combined with being the “organizer in chief”, etc.

They thanked me dearly for what I was doing, and I marked them as undecided in the voting app at the national website, but I personally think that Phyllis and her husband will be caucusing for Bernie.

ARTIE

The other call I want to highlight was to a man named Artie. I thought that he would hang up, based on his initial reaction to learning that I was a volunteer with the Sanders campaign. Instead, he hit me with a full-throated criticism of Bernie’s “socialism” and his willingness to expand government into areas where it had traditionally deferred to the private sector. This devolved into a back and forth, with me highlighting the areas in the private sector that should be “human rights”, particularly healthcare, and him quoting ad infinitum Joe Biden’s talking point of $30 trillion as the cost of Medicare for all. I of course told him that Bernie had a full plan to pay, and that it would cost him 4% more in taxes in the form of a payroll tax, but that that cost would likely be more than offset by the lack of deductibles, copays and premium shares, and that his tax increases in the form of payroll taxes from M4A would be nothing compared to the super elite, which is a theme throughout all of his policy platform, all of which benefits ordinary Americans. I asked him if he had children and he said yes, he has a 13 year old daughter. I got the sense that he had a disdain for the Democratic party. So I asked him who was the last Democrat he voted for, and he said Barack Obama.

I knew now that I had to zoom out to get him on our side. So I brought up, bear with me now, the Joe Rogan interview. I said that a lot of people who don’t care much for the 2 party system listen to that podcast and that Bernie’s interview on Rogan was not only mostly seen by those people, but was the most-viewed long-form political interview in the history of the country. And that THAT was a symbol of the political realignment that Bernie represents. This was the turning point. I sensed it immediately, and sure enough, Artie acknowledged that he is a Rogan listener, and that he was surprised that I knew who Rogan was, as well as that Rogan had endorsed Bernie. This changed the course of the conversation for the better. My friend ultimately agreed that M4A was a necessary fix to a broken system, and agreed to caucus for Bernie. The conversation lasted an hour. It was well worth my time.

WHAT I LEARNED

Voters in Iowa can be persuaded. The time spent calling is valuable, and can make a difference with voters on the ground. But those undecided are not dupes. They are thinking hard about their decision and are only going to respond to people who have the goods in terms of valid points about how one’s chosen candidate will help improve their lives and our society as a whole. Some of them are turned off to collective identities, i.e. “all of us together” and have to be reached in terms of their own particular “tribe” (we all have one, and most are generally positive and communal in nature). Finally, I learned that the true things I know about Bernie are adequate to persuading swing voters. That to me is a huge reason to sleep easy tonight.

I highly recommend making calls for Bernie. It is so rewarding. All the info is easily accessible here (just follow the instructions): berniesanders.com/…

*note: the names in this post have been changed for privacy purposes.