Welcome back to the Data for Progress newsletter, your weekly update on our research, blog posts, and memes.

We Outlined Exactly Who Biden Should Pick for His Cabinet
A month ago, we released our first Progressive Cabinet Project memo, which outlined general guidelines for how Biden should fill his Cabinet. Now, we’ve gone way bigger — we just dropped two HUGE new memos, one with specific progressive Cabinet picks for every key position and another with polling to back it up.

This. Is. Huge.

Our first new memo is literally 145 pages long, and makes the case for an exciting lineup of left-wing choices for more than a dozen positions. It’s an Avengers-level assembly of members of Congress, former Cabinet officials, and progressive experts and advocates — which together would make for the most progressive administration in history.

Here are just a few examples:

• For Secretary of State, the list includes Sen. Russ Feingold, Rep. Ro Khanna, Sen. Jeff Merkley, and Rep. Tom Perriello. 

• For Secretary of the Interior, picks include Sen. Jay Inslee, Rep. Raúl Grijalva, Rep. Deb Haaland, and Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians president Fawn Sharp.

• For Secretary of Homeland Security, our slate features Sen. Ron Wyden, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, former housing secretary Julian Castro, and civil rights attorney Vanita Gupta.

Check out all of our choices here!

In our other memo, we released dozens of polls showing that a progressive Cabinet could help Biden win. Our surveys show that Americans are fed up with the influence of billionaires, corporate lobbyists, and big banks, and want a Cabinet that represents the people.



Read that memo too.


The American People Agree: Cut the Pentagon’s Budget
The proposed amendment to cut the defense budget by 10 percent and reinvest in our country may have lost in the Senate on Wednesday — but it’s won over the support of the American people.

This week, we’ve focused heavily on foreign policy — including a piece from Rep. Mark Pocan, co-chair of the House Progessive Caucus. In the piece, Pocan shared DFP polling showing that Americans want to invest in the people, not endless war. Fifty-six percent support reinvesting one-tenth of the Pentagon’s bloated budget towards education, healthcare, housing, and fighting the coronavirus. This includes 50 percent of voters who self-identify as Republican.



“We face a pandemic with a lack of resources, no nationwide testing plan, 3.6 million cases and over 138,000 deaths,” Pocan writes. “Maybe, just maybe, we could have been better prepared for this disaster if the budget for our public health agency wasn’t about 1 percent of the defense budget.”


Data Bytes

• Sen. Elizabeth Warren Is Strongly Favored by Those Still Unsure About Likely Democratic Nominee Joe Biden: The veepstakes are getting closer and closer to the finish line, and Joe Biden’s decision will rest largely on who will appeal most to swing voters in battleground states. So, we polled exactly that.
  
  We found that Sen. Kamala Harris and Warren were roughly tied among Independent battleground voters. But importantly, Harris’ support was clustered among battleground Independents who already say they’re “satisfied” with Biden. Among those who are still unsure about Biden, Warren is the top choice.
  
  
   

• Memo: The Public Favors Supporting Students, Not Policing Them: Some school districts across the U.S. have ended their contracts with police. Are voters on board?
  
  According to a new poll with the Justice Collaborative, they are. Fifty-seven percent of voters support investing in school mental health and emotional support services, even if that means cutting the number of school resource officers in schools. Just 43 percent of voters would rather spend on cops than counseling.
  
  

From The Blog
The Partisan Battle Lines on Housing are Clear
The American People Agree: Cut the Pentagon’s Budget
Americans Want to Reinvest Ten Percent of the Military Budget Against Coronavirus
Out-Of-Work Americans Worry About Their Health and Finances as Expanded Unemployment Insurance Benefits Are Set to Expire
Stopping President Trump’s Federally-Funded Phony Health Clinics


Memos
Memo: Battleground Poll Results of Independents
Memo: Battleground Poll Results of Independents - Study of Income and Employment
Memo: The Congressional Progressive Caucus’s Department of Defense Priorities Are Popular With Voters
Memo: The Public Favors Supporting Students, Not Policing Them
Memo: For Biden, Committing to a Progressive Cabinet Could Be Key to Victory in November
Memo: Progressive Cabinet Project - Shaping a Progressive Administration
Memo: An Eviction Cliff Years in the Making and the Need for Comprehensive Action


Media Hits
Joe Biden has endorsed the Green New Deal in all but name @The Guardian
10 Ways to Reduce Our Reliance on Policing and Make Our Communities Safer @The Appeal
Frontlines Climate Justice Executive Action Platform @Demos


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