As the White House gears up for the 2020 campaign, it's pressing the case that Democrats are rallying behind what it's calling the policies of "socialism."
Trying to portray Democrats as out of step with ordinary Americans, Vice President Mike Pence said in a speech Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference that the choice in the next election is "between freedom and socialism, between personal responsibility and government dependence."
It was the latest step in a coordinated effort by President Donald Trump and his allies to drive up enthusiasm among the GOP base by sowing fears about the policies pushed by Democrats.
"The moment America becomes a socialist country is the moment America ceases to be America," Pence told the crowd of conservative activists.
Pence also took aim at "Medicare for all" and the Green New Deal, policy proposals prominent in the crowded Democratic contest for the presidential nomination.
The Medicare proposal really means "quality health care for none," Pence said. And "the only thing green" about the Democrats' environmental framework to combat climate change, the vice president said, "is how much green it's going to cost taxpayers if we do it: $90 trillion."
Pence called Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who is making a second run for the Democratic presidential nomination, an "avowed socialist" and said Sanders epitomized Democratic candidates and officials who "have papered over the failed policies of socialism with bumper-sticker slogans and slick social media campaigns."
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said at the conference Thursday that Americans should "put socialism on trial and then convict it." Trump was expected to deliver a similar message when he addresses the conference Saturday.
The White House has tried to cite the political chaos in Venezuela, where moderates backed by the Trump administration are challenging the socialist government of Nicholas Maduro after years of economic collapse, as a warning sign about the consequences of Democratic policies in the United States.
A Gallup poll from last August found that 37 percent of Americans feel positive about socialism, a share little changed over the past decade. Nearly 6 in 10 Democrats (57 percent) reported having a positive view of socialism, more than three times the share of Republicans (16 percent).
According to Gallup, young adults are especially likely to view socialism positively. About half of Americans under 30 (51 percent) and 41 percent of those age 30 to 49 reported feeling positive, compared with about 3 in 10 of those 50 and older.
