For those interested in what policies the 2020 Democratic presidential contenders stand for, the most obvious source of information is often the most mysterious. Several of the candidates’ websites make their positions difficult to identify, leaving the public to scrutinize their records and public statements instead.
Candidates may be trying to avoid alienating part of the Democratic voter base while also protecting themselves from potential right-wing attacks on far-left policies.
“They are fully aware that the Trump team is keeping tabs on this insane policy race to the left,” Republican strategist and political analyst Ford O’Connell told the Washington Examiner. “They are literally trying to kowtow to the Democratic base any way possible while trying to keep their powder dry should they eventually face off against Trump.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has no issue positions page on her website, though it links to a Medium post detailing her $1 trillion plan to upgrade the country’s infrastructure. Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper announced proposals this weekend that aim to fight monopolies and raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2021, but information on those plans and other policy positions is not accessible from his homepage.
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Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro also lacks an issues page, but his website includes his immigration reform plan calling for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
When confronted during a CNN town hall last week about the lack of a policy page on his website, the South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg focused on the importance of articulating values rather than the details of policy positions.
“I also think it’s important that we not drown people in minutiae before we’ve vindicated the values that animate our policies,” Buttigieg said. “We go right to the policy proposals and we expect people to be able to figure out what our values must be from that.”
Buttigieg’s campaign rolled out a website where visitors can keyword-search for videos of the mayor answering policy questions, but it does not put his positions in writing.
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“As far as I can tell, most if not all of these folks are talking about policy on the campaign trail, so it’s a little bit puzzling why they’re not putting them on their website,” Democratic strategist Jim Manley told the Washington Examiner. “For now it may suffice, but I think as they get closer to the primary, they’re going to have to start beefing up their policy positions.”
Instead of a list of policy positions, the websites for Sen. Kamala Harris and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke include transcripts of speeches that briefly mention support for issues such as debt-free college and universal healthcare. They have, however, rolled out a couple of large policy proposals: Harris on investing federal funds to raise teacher pay nationwide and O’Rourke on a plan to address climate change that includes $5 trillion in investments.
The bare-bones websites are a change from those of top candidates in previous presidential campaigns. In the 2008 cycle, GOP candidate and eventual presidential nominee Sen. John McCain and President Barack Obama displayed long lists of positions soon after announcing their candidacies.
The candidates have not always been so silent about their positions on issues in interviews and at campaign events, however. Klobuchar has said she opposes free college education for all and Harris said she supports marijuana legalization.
Democratic pollster and strategist Brad Bannon echoed Buttigieg’s point, arguing that voters are unlikely to care about a candidate’s positions before they know who the candidate is.
“It’s quite possible that some of these people don’t have well thought-out policy positions yet,” Bannon told the Washington Examiner. “It may be because they’re so focused on building name recognition, they’re basically using all their resources to do that.”
Lynn Vavreck, a professor of political science and communication studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, told the Washington Examiner that many candidates likely do not have a policy team this early in the campaign cycle.
Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., more recognizable names, are known as policy wonks in the Democratic presidential field and both present a plethora of policy proposals on their websites. The Warren campaign boasts her policy strengths, selling a “Warren has a plan for that” campaign T-shirt.
[Related: Elizabeth Warren promises to break up large tech companies]
“There’s a debate going on,” Manley said. “Is it enough to go against, be against Trump, or do you actually need to be grounded in policy? I think from what I am reading of events on the campaign trail, folks want to hear policies.”
Lack of an issues page does not necessarily spell doom for a candidate, however. In the early stages of President Trump’s 2016 campaign, his website lacked defined policies, as did, in many cases, his commentary.
The campaigns for Harris, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Castro, and Hickenlooper did not respond to requests for comment.
