MATH: Andrew Yang Ends 2020 Presidential Campaign
Richard Moorhead
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Andrew Yang is ending his 2020 Presidential campaign after two low finishes in the first two Democratic contests of the primary. The news broke on Tuesday night as initial results from the New Hampshire primary came in.
The unconventional candidate waged a surprisingly resilient campaign, out-polling and outlasting several Democratic senators and governors. After polling in the high single digits, it appears that much of his support in the two early primary states may have coalesced behind Bernie Sanders. Yang took around 5% of the vote in the Iowa caucuses, and early New Hampshire primary returns show him with around 3% in the granite state.
The signature element of Andrew Yang’s campaign was a proposal he deemed the “Freedom Dividend,” in which every American citizen over 18 would be given a universal basic income of $1,000 a month.
The entrepreneur explained his decision to drop out in an interview with the Atlantic, stating that he didn’t want to take money and votes from his supporters if he didn’t feel he could win the primary and general election.
Yang’s campaign received support from some rogue Republicans sympathetic to the concept of a universal basic income, an idea his presidential run will likely be credited for placing on the political map.
With Yang’s departure from the race, the existing Democratic primary field consists of ten candidates.
Yang himself has predicted that many of his supporters would turn to Bernie Sanders, possibly providing a discernible boost to the Vermont socialist senator in future state primaries and caucuses. Early results of the New Hampshire primary shows Sanders leading Pete Buttigieg by approximately 29% to 22%.
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