A new Emerson poll in California reveals that Andrew Yang is continuing his rise and broke into fourth place with seven percent support, ahead of Kamala Harris, Beto O’Rourke, and Pete Buttigieg. The frontrunners remain the same, with Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders tied in first and second place at 26 percent support each and Elizabeth Warren with 20 percent support.
Per The Inquisitr , the poll comes on the heels of the new nationwide Hill-HarrisX poll last week, which saw Yang jump into fifth place with five percent support, his highest yet in this particular survey. Much like the California Emerson poll, the frontrunners remain the same — Biden, Sanders, and Warren — but Yang is just behind Harris and ahead of Buttigieg. In addition, another recent Emerson poll showed Yang performing second-best in hypothetical head-to-head matchups against Donald Trump, second only to Biden.
The recent California Emerson poll comes after Yang’s debate performance Thursday in which he stirred the pot by announcing he is giving 10 families $1,000 per month for a year. The giveaway mirrors his campaign’s signature proposal: a universal basic income (UBI), or “Freedom Dividend,” of $1,000 per month for every American adult. The 44-year-old entrepreneur’s campaign has been steadily growing, and his debate appearance might help pave the way for this momentum to continue.
Yang hits 7% in California and rises into 4th place.
Here we go #YangGang it’s all happening. https://t.co/czfqPFnzAt
— Zach Graumann (@Zach_Graumann) September 17, 2019
Although Yang’s giveaway appears to have stirred interest, some suggest it violates the Federal Elections Committee (FEC) regulations. While Yang’s campaign said that they got the go-ahead from their team of lawyers, other legal experts remain adamant that it’s illegal. Interestingly, Fox News reports that the FEC is currently non-operational due to Washington dysfunction, and campaign finance expert Craig Holman suggests Yang’s campaign might have been aware of this.
Regardless, Yang’s gamble has paid off thus far as it put potential voters in front of his policies on his website amid the lack of media attention on his campaign. Not only that, the backlash from pundits that suggest it’s somehow inappropriate has given him plenty of ammunition to fire back at their purported hypocrisy — Politico reports that he suggested to Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union that the same scrutiny would not be leveled if he put the money into TV ads or political consultants.
“No one would blink an eye. But if we give the money directly to the American people, somehow that’s problematic. So it just speaks how messed up our system is where giving money directly to Americans actually raises eyebrows.”