Today's Poll Question: Can Sanders-style Progressive Democrats Win General Elections In Swing States Like Michigan?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
Get ready to vote on today's daily poll question at smerconish.com.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:05)
But first, Michael explains it for you, right here.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:08)
Welcome to The Smerconish Podcast from SiriusXM.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:11)
For Independent Minds.

**Michael Smerconish** (0:14)
Hi gang, today is Tuesday, it's the 4th of August, 2026 Yesterday at smerconish.com, 32,919 voted on the following poll question. Of these existential threats, which worries you the most?
And your choices included a biological attack or engineered pandemic, nuclear war, conventional war, think Iran, think Russia, Ukraine, think China, artificial intelligence or climate change. Why was I asking that question? I was asking that question because on yesterday's program, Annie Jacobson was here. She's just published a book that will absolutely be a best seller. The book is called Biological War, a Scenario. You might remember, I guess two years ago, she was my guest when she published a book called Nuclear War, a Scenario. She's really bright. She's really well grounded in terms of experts to whom she can turn to write these books. And the way that she does it is really cool. She blends together. I was going to say fact and fiction. It's not quite fiction. She discusses the subject matter in great detail with all the experts and then paints a scenario.
So in this case, the book Biological War, a Scenario, talks about biological weapons, the history, the laws surrounding them, incidents that have occurred in the past, the capabilities of the present. And then she lays out a scenario, and in this case, it's a scenario where in Siberia, you've got this vestige of the Soviet era still being used for the testing of biological weapons. And a scientist has pangs of guilt, causes an explosion. It's an attempt for him to destroy his work.
And then in very rapid succession, in six days, as a matter of fact, the world is brought to its knees.
And she paints a very specific, compelling picture of how easily that could happen. In this case, the guy goes to a Russian priest to confess his sins, and the priest is infected. And then the next person in the confessional is a student who's headed to UCLA. He also works on Skid Row doing pro bono work. So that population is immediately infected. The scientist attempts to kill himself. A hunting party finds him before he does the deed. The hunting party consists of 10 individuals from six different continents. They disperse the following day. And like that, the globe is infected. It's a really compelling book. So how did the poll turn out yesterday? Interestingly, 27.34% said climate change. That's the threat, the existential threat that worries the most. And then following in this order, artificial intelligence, war, meaning conventional war, a biological attack or engineered pandemic. All of those answers were kind of clustered together. And what's most interesting about the 32,000, nearly 33,000 who voted is that nuclear war came in fifth position. Nuclear war came in fifth position. I thought that was really of interest. Today, it had to be this. It's election day in Michigan. Can a Sanders-style progressive, can a Sanders-style progressive Democrat win general elections in swing states like Michigan? That was the wording that I worked hard on and came up with because I just didn't want to poison the well.
I was, you know, what I'm really thinking is, can Abdul El-Sayed win a general election against Mike Rogers? But if I went there so specifically, I think people following that race might not have had an answer. More on that in a moment.
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**SPEAKER_4** (5:01)
Hey, I've got the campaign brief ready, built from last quarter's data and the competitive landscape.

**Michael Smerconish** (5:07)