‘Finally doing right’: Democrats’ big bill offers Sanders chance to deliver

The progressive senator is close to realizing many of his policy goals - but can he unite the party behind Biden's plan?

When making the case for progressive policy, the veteran leftwing senator Bernie Sanders often cites public opinion. Poll after poll," he'll say, before running through a list of ambitious initiatives that the vast majority of the American people want", from lowering the cost of prescription drug prices to expanding Medicare, establishing paid family and medical leave and confronting the climate crisis.

Versions of these programs - initiatives once considered nothing more than liberal pipe dreams - are at the heart of Joe Biden's sprawling domestic policy bill pending before Congress. But despite the popularity of the specific proposals, the legislation has a polling problem. Poll after poll shows that most Americans have no idea what's actually in the bill.