Exclusive: Bernie Sanders on How Kamala Harris Can Win

Senator Bernie Sanders has a plan for how Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz can win in November, and if you ask him, he'll tell you he has the data to support it.

While some strategists would likely advise Harris and Walz, the Democrats' presidential and vice presidential candidates, to moderate their policy views to effectively challenge GOP nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, Sanders thinks they should do precisely the opposite. The progressive independent senator from Vermont, who caucuses with Democrats and twice sought the party's presidential nomination, in 2016 and 2020, believes the data is on his side.

Polling from Data for Progress, which was commissioned by Sanders and conducted at the end of July, showed majorities of Democrats, independents and Republicans in the six battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin back a range of progressive policy ideas—including raising the minimum wage, increasing taxes on the wealthy and corporations, and significantly lowering the cost of prescription drugs.

"I hesitate to even call them progressive," Sanders told Newsweek, describing these proposals as "common sense" ideas.