Donald Berwick ran a campaign for governor of Massachusetts (home of Romneycare the model for the Affordable Care Act) on a single payer platform. Previously he ran the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services in the Department of Health and Human Services. He ran against better funded candidates State Attorney General Martha Coakley (who had lost the special election for Ted Kennedy’s Senate Seat to Scott Brown) and State Treasurer Steven Grossman. Most polls had Berwick in the teens to the single digits as can be seen in the data tracked by Real Clear Politics. The final results had him at 21.1% which suggests an upswing of support.
There was no exit polling to monitor the true impact of Berwick’s campaign on the voters. The pre-election polls restricted their samples to who they thought would be likely voters. The results suggest that Berwick brought in new voters. Just because Berwick did not win does not mean he did not have an impact.
The same day as the Massachusetts primary, Zephyr Teachout ran a primary challenge to New York governor Andrew Cuomo and received 30% of the vote. She discusses her campaign below. Her campaign received more attention than Berwick’s. But it’s at least as impactful.
Polling Data
| Poll | Date | Sample | Coakley | Grossman | Berwick | Spread | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final Results | — | — | 42.4 | 36.5 | 21.1 | Coakley +5.9 | ||
| WBUR/MassINC | 9/2 – 9/7 | 234 LV | 41 | 20 | 12 | Coakley +21 | ||
| Boston Globe | 9/2 – 9/3 | 400 LV | 47 | 25 | 13 | Coakley +22 | ||
| UMass Lowell/7News | 8/25 – 8/31 | 685 LV | 52 | 20 | 9 | Coakley +32 | ||
| WBUR/MassINC | 8/24 – 8/31 | 340 LV | 47 | 23 | 6 | Coakley +24 | ||
| Boston Globe | 8/17 – 8/26 | 347 LV | 46 | 24 | 10 | Coakley +22 | ||
| Suffolk/Boston Herald | 8/21 – 8/24 | 400 LV | 42 | 30 | 16 | Coakley +12 | ||
| Boston Globe | 8/10 – 8/19 | 358 LV | 45 | 24 | 10 | Coakley +21 | ||
| Boston Globe | 8/3 – 8/12 | 357 LV | 45 | 21 | 10 | Coakley +24 | ||
| Boston Globe | 7/27 – 8/5 | 361 LV | 45 | 18 | 9 | Coakley +27 |
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