Buttigieg Blows Biden Away, Pulls Ahead On PredictIt Behind Warren

As we noted yesterday, Pete Buttigieg has staged an impressive ascent in the polls which began towards the end of September.

And after last night’s snoozer of a Democratic debate during which Joe Biden ‘Mr. Magoo’d‘ his way through it, Buttigeig sprinted past the scandal-plagued former VP and is now in second place behind Elizabeth Warren, according to PredictIt – despite a ‘puzzling, incomprehensible and off-putting‘ performance.

Yesterday we noted that one possible reason for the Indiana mayor’s run was laid out by Cowen analyst Jaret Seidberg, who said that the democratic presidential candidate is being well-received by markets due to his pragmatic approach to governing and his “appreciation for the benefits of capitalism.“

That said, last night’s debate performance by the South Bend, Indiana mayor was panned by many on the left.

Tulsi takes a swing at Buttigieg over sending Troops to Mexico, He exposes himself by responding with cheap shots. That’s not a leader , that’s a corporate coward. #DemDebate

— Jimmy Dore (@jimmy_dore) November 21, 2019

Buttigieg is building a movement made up of people who are afraid of movements. #DemDebate

— Jimmy Dore (@jimmy_dore) November 21, 2019

CNN on Pete Buttigieg’s debate performance:

“puzzling”

“incomprehensible”

“off-putting” pic.twitter.com/CuMB467uDR

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) November 21, 2019

Here’s a summary of Mayor Pete’s views on financials and housing from Cowen’s Jaret Seidberg (via Bloomberg) which we noted yesterday:

• Buttigieg has been vocal about ensuring consumers can sue credit card companies rather than having to use arbitration.
• He would restore corporate tax rates to 35% to pay for his health care plan, which means that higher taxes aren’t a separate priority, reducing risk.
• He has endorsed a transaction tax, possibly aimed at high frequency trading rather than traditional trading.
• He supports higher estate and top individual tax rates.
• Buttigieg may be good for housing as he wants to create a federal program to provide downpayment assistance for 1 million families.
• Buttigieg’s discussion of using affordable housing trust funds to finance two million units of affordable housing may be an “implicit endorsement” of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
• Cowen hasn’t heard Buttigieg discuss bank regulation, noting that the candidate hasn’t weighed in on breaking up banks or objected to plans to reduce reliance on leverage ratios in the Federal Reserve’s stress test.
• Like most of Democratic candidates, Buttigieg favors legalizing cannabis