--- title: Why Bernie Sanders Is Talking About Poverty description: He's avoiding euphemisms Democrats typically use like "everyday Americans." canonical: https://time.com/4291699/bernie-sanders-poverty-poor-rhetoric/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-13T03:14:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:59.660Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why Bernie Sanders Is Talking About Poverty og:description: He's avoiding euphemisms Democrats typically use like "everyday Americans." og:url: https://time.com/4291699/bernie-sanders-poverty-poor-rhetoric/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25e815ceba696933/69888ee0ab6d770be46a939f/bernie-sanders4.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at a rally for his campaign on April 11, 2016 in Binghamton, New York. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Bernie Sanders Is Talking About Poverty twitter:description: He's avoiding euphemisms Democrats typically use like "everyday Americans." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt25e815ceba696933/69888ee0ab6d770be46a939f/bernie-sanders4.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Bernie Sanders Is Talking About Poverty > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=901ab5e2-5d58-4c29-a2b3-5aba8bb70eed&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How Bernie Sanders Changed the Word 'Socialism' in the U.S. [Watch (HLS stream): How Bernie Sanders Changed the Word 'Socialism' in the U.S.](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/JUAmwPHb.m3u8) (1:54)  _Published 2016-03-21. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders may not win the Democratic presidential nominee this year, but he has already changed how American politics relates to the word "socialism."_ by [Sam Frizell / Poughkeepsie, N.Y.](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell / Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Apr 13, 2016 3:14 AM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at a rally for his campaign on April 11, 2016 in Binghamton, New York. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at a rally for his campaign on April 11, 2016 in Binghamton, New York. Brett Carlsen—2016 Getty Images by [Sam Frizell / Poughkeepsie, N.Y.](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell / Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Apr 13, 2016 3:14 AM UTC Bernie Sanders doesn’t want to talk about the middle class right now. He wants to talk about the poor. The Vermont Senator on Tuesday made some of the most extended remarks on poverty of his campaign, telling an audience in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., that there is “a physiology of poverty” and tying his own ambitions for helping the poor to the legacy of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. “There have been a number of studies that have come out recently which have shown that low-income people have a life expectancy significantly lower than wealthy people. In other words, poverty is a death sentence,” Sanders told an audience at Marist College in the Hudson Valley. “There is a physiology of poverty — that means when you wake up in the morning, you don’t know how you’re going to feed the kids, how you’re going to get access to health care. That stress alone wrecks havoc on your body,” Sanders continued. **Read More:** [_Why Flint’s Life Expectancy Is Below the National Average_](http://time.com/4290027/flint-genesee-county-life-expectancy-study/) Fighting poverty has occasionally been at the forefront of Democratic politics. President Lyndon Johnson declared a War on Poverty in 1964, New York Senator Robert Kennedy ran for President on the issue in 1968, and North Carolina Senator John Edwards made it a centerpiece of his national campaign in 2008\. But in recent years, many Democratic candidates have chosen to blur the lines between the impoverished and middle-class Americans. Sanders has often discussed the poor on the campaign trail before, and Americans who live [“paycheck to paycheck.”](http://time.com/3896500/bernie-sanders-vermont-campaign-radical/) But he normally uses the term [“working people,”](http://time.com/4244244/bernie-sanders-super-tuesday-speech-transcript-full-text/) while his opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addresses [“everyday Americans.”](http://time.com/3981638/hillary-clinton-ads-mother-dorothy/) But with slim chances of winning the nomination, Sanders embraced the problems of the poor in his speech in the key state of New York on Tuesday, aiming to increase attention to an issue he believes the Democratic Party should have paid more attention to over the past two decades. “A great nation is judged not by how many millionaires and billionaires it has, but by how it treats the weakest and most vulnerable amongst us,” Sanders said. Sanders has proposed huge levels of spending for program proposals from single-payer health care to massive jobs and infrastructure programs that are unprecedented in contemporary major-party American political platforms. But he’s also faced criticism from some Democrats, especially rival Clinton, that his plans aren’t achievable. Following a visit to the Franklin D. Roosevelt home in the Hudson River Valley, Sanders sought to refute that argument by extensively citing the Depression-era President. “Before \[Roosevelt\] becoming President, the general culture was, ‘It’s too bad that people sleep on the street, or that people are hungry or people die because they do not have access to health care, but it is not the government’s responsibility,’” Sanders said. Roosevelt “came forward and he said, You know what? We’re going to transform the way government works in America,” Sanders continued. “Roosevelt was right back in 1944, and we still have not achieved that goal.” **Read More:** [_The Possible Presidential Candidate Who Agrees the Most With Pope Francis_](http://time.com/3661552/bernie-sanders-pope-francis/) There is a political upside to be gained for Sanders in tying himself to Roosevelt. Sanders faces a difficult New York primary on April 19 and could benefit from his association with a local New York hero. Earlier on Tuesday at Roosevelt’s historic home, Sanders called the 32nd President “one of the greatest Presidents in the history of our country” and said “there is a lot we can learn from Roosevelt’s life,” according to an aide. At least among his most ardent supporters, Sanders’ message may resonate. “Living paycheck to paycheck is poverty,” said Rob Pinto, a member of the Communications of America union who said he is striking against Verizon on Wednesday. “It’s been the best-kept secret for 40 years, and Bernie is telling everybody the biggest secret in America: that poverty is a problem and poverty is real and most people are dealing with it whether they know it or not.” ## Transcript So you call yourself a Democratic socialist. How can any kind of socialist win a general election in the United States? Well, we're gonna win- Even if Sanders loses, what he will have done is open up some space on the left for people to run that kind of campaign. So I think it there's a young, ambitious politician out there, they might look at some of the things Bernie Sanders is saying and see how they resonate With millennials and say, that's a path that I should start considering. For decades, the word socialist and variants on it were taken for granted as obvious epithets in American politics. You didn't want to be called a socialist. You didn't want your policies Used to be called socialist. With the collapses of a union, China is really the only major socialist country like that. And it's moved towards more of a market economy. So really the only example of socialism that most young people today can think of are countries like Denmark and Norway. In Finland where it's Democratic socialism which really just means a healthy safety net for citizens and higher taxation rates. American politics moves very slowly and then all at once. Young voters are the bellweather of the future of our politics. [ MUSIC ] They don't necessarily turn out in large numbers. But all old voters were young voters once. They're getting older every year and they are already changing things like workplace norms, purchasing habits, and how people use the Internet and take selfies. In showing their enthusiasm for Bernie Sanders, their starting to change a little bit of the conversation. But a few years from now when they're displacing some of the older voters, I think you'll start to see a much bigger influence. 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