The following is a statement from Demand Progress Executive Director Sean Vitka:

“Auchincloss and Thompson are living in a bubble where they can call for ‘Abundance’ to be the policy agenda of the Democratic Party but also dismiss evidence showing why that would be a bad idea. They attacked us because our poll popped this bubble with hard, objective data showing that populism resonates with voters far more than the ‘Abundance’ message.

Demand Progress has a long, documented history of vocally calling for the breakup of Big Tech behemoths and supporting policies that will end their monopolies. Rep. Auchincloss’s laughable claim that we’re ‘in the pocket of Big Tech’ exposes his own insecurities about being on stage at an event financed by Big Tech billionaires.

Thompson’s transparent attempt to muddy the waters by saying ‘people are these really complex things’ also exposes his own game of hand-waiving away any criticism of ‘Abundance.’ Our poll shows with hard, clear data that voters’ opinions are not complicated—they just overwhelmingly support populism over ‘Abundance.’ In fact, we specifically tested hybrid messaging, which confirmed the ‘Abundance’ platform comes with a clear political cost.

The data is clear. ‘Abundance’ is a losing argument and all the insults and hand-waiving from Auchincloss and Thompson are just signs that they know they’re pushing something voters don't want.”

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.

As Donald Trump tries to distance his campaign from Project 2025, those behind the right-wing policy blueprint to remake the U.S. government continue to brag in private about their close ties to the Republican presidential nominee and how they intend to push a radical right-wing agenda in a second Trump administration. In July, Project 2025 co-author Russell Vought met with two people he believed to be relatives of a wealthy conservative donor interested in funding the effort. In fact, he was meeting with two reporters with the U.K.-based Centre for Climate Reporting as part of an undercover sting captured on video. Over the course of two hours, Vought described Trump’s disavowal of Project 2025 as mere theater and laid out plans for mass deportations, restricting abortion, gutting independent government bureaucracies, using the military against racial justice protesters and more. The secret plans are “designed to ensure that this kind of radical agenda that the conservative movement has in the U.S. can be implemented from day one,” says Lawrence Carter, founder and director of the Centre for Climate Reporting and one of the reporters who spoke with Vought. “They want to make sure that the mistakes from the first Trump administration, as they see them, where not much got done, are avoided this time around.”

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.