By Veronica Rocha and Fernando Alfonso III, CNN
Analysis by CNN's Chris Cillizza
Seven Democratic presidential candidates took the stage tonight in Los Angeles for the sixth debate in the 2020 election.
Here are the winners and losers from tonight's debate:
Winners: Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, former Vice President Joe Biden, businessman Andrew Yang and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg
Losers: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders .... and Buttigieg (yes, he's a winner and a loser tonight)
From CNN's Curt Devine
Businessman Andrew Yang contrasted the strength of the US economy with Americans’ well-being and said “depression, financial insecurity, student loan debt, even suicides and drug overdoses” are at record highs tonight.
“It has gotten so bad that our life expectancy as a country has declined for the last three years because suicides and drug overdoses have overtaken vehicle deaths for the first time in American history," Yang added.
Facts First: Yang is stretching these sad facts. He’s correct that life expectancy declined over a three-year period and while studies indicate these rates have risen in recent years, it’s impossible to say they’re at record highs.
Depression is hard to quantify, though a Blue Cross Blue Shield study found, "Diagnoses of major depression have risen dramatically by 33 percent" between 2013 and 2016, and a study published in the journal Psychological Medicine found depression rose "significantly" among Americans age 12 and older from 2005 to 2015.
It’s true that student loan debt, which has climbed to $1.5 trillion, has reached record levels.
US suicide rates are the highest they’ve been since World War II, according to research by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but suicide rates actually peaked in 1932, during the Great Depression.
Drug overdose deaths increased between 1999 and 2017, but provisional data posted by the CDC earlier this month suggest that rate fell slightly last year – down to an estimated 69,000 deaths from about 70,000 the year before.
Life expectancy decreased between 2014 and 2017, falling from 78.9 to 78.6, according to the CDC, which attributed the slight downtick to drug overdoses and suicides.
A study by the by the National Safety Council found that the “odds of death” for suicide and opioid overdose were higher than motor vehicle crashes. But Yang is incorrect in the way he compared this to all of US history. There were only 36 highway fatalities in the year 1900, for example.
From CNN's Marshall Cohen
Sen. Amy Klobuchar claimed tonight that in the 2016 US election, Hillary Clinton had her lowest margin of victory in Minnesota. Klobuchar argued that polls have her beating "Donald Trump by 18 points" in 2020 in the state.
Facts First: She’s basically right about the polls, but she’s wrong about the 2016 election results.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton barely defeated Trump in Minnesota, winning by 1.6 percentage points. It was extremely close, but it wasn’t her tightest margin of victory, as Klobuchar claimed. That state was New Hampshire, where Clinton won by about 0.4%.
Looking ahead to 2020, Klobuchar accurately cited a recent poll from her home state of Minnesota.
An October poll from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the largest newspaper in the state, found that Klobuchar would have a 17-point lead over Trump, which is a larger lead over the President than her Democratic opponents. (The poll had a 3.5% margin of error.)
From CNN's Anneken Tappe
Businessman Andrew Yang, whose campaign has focused on the threat automation poses to US workers, claimed that President Trump’s 2016 win was in part because “we blasted away 4 million manufacturing jobs” — and further claimed that 40,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in Iowa.
Facts First: This is true, but only if you look back as far as the early 2000s. US manufacturing employment actually went up during President Barack Obama’s second term, and that’s continued under Trump.
The US lost 4.4 million manufacturing jobs between January 2000 and November 2019. The sharpest declines during this nearly two-decade stretch happened during the 2001 recession and between late 2007 and mid-2009 – that is, during the financial crisis.
Similarly, Iowa lost jobs during that period, shedding a total of 20,900 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But looking at a more recent time frame, manufacturing jobs increased, improving from a net loss of 5.8 million jobs from 2000-2010. During Obama’s second term, and following Trump’s election, the sector added positions.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics showed 385,000 additional manufacturing jobs were added between January 2013 and January 2017.
Since Trump took office, the sector has added another 497,000 jobs.
Iowa showed the same increasing trend for manufacturing positions, both in the lead-up to Trump’s election and since he took office.
That said, American factories have been suffering this year. The trade war has been weighing on business investment, demand for products and also hiring. The US manufacturing sector contracted for four months in a row through November, according to the Institute of Supply Management.
At the end of tonight's debate, Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke the most at more than 20 minutes, followed closely by Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren.
See the full breakdown below:
The final Democratic primary debate of 2019 has just wrapped up in Los Angeles.
The seven candidates made their final pleas to the American public in their closing statements tonight.
Here's what they said:
Things got a little awkward on stage when the candidates were asked if they had to choose would they: ask for forgiveness from a candidate or give one of them a gift.
Here's how they responded:
From CNN's Eric Bradner
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden fought over their health care plans Thursday night, with Sanders advocating for his signature “Medicare for All” single-payer proposal and Biden backing a plan that builds on Obamacare and maintains a role for private health insurers.
It started when Sanders was asked if -- given the reality that Senate Republicans would oppose his health care plan -- he would push any smaller measures in the more immediate future. He wouldn’t play ball, saying, “I think we will pass a Medicare for All single-payer system.”
Biden then advocated his plan, which would add a public option to Obamacare and put lower the caps on how much of their income Americans would pay for insurance on the exchanges.
“You shouldn’t have Washington dictating to you you cannot keep the plan you have,” Biden said.
Sanders responded that Biden’s plan “would essentially maintain the status quo.” Biden then shot back that Sanders’ proposal would come with $30 trillion in new expenses over a decade and would necessitate tax increases.
Sanders pointed out that in exchange for those taxes, Americans would no longer have to pay copays, insurance premiums or deductibles, and would have prescription drug costs capped at $200 per year.
At one point, Biden stopped and said to his animated foe: “Put your hand down for a second, Bernie.”
“Just waving to you, Joe,” Sanders responded.
While discussing the cost of medical care in the US, former Vice President Joe Biden told Sen. Bernie Sanders to "put your hand down" after the Vermont lawmaker was seen waving it, a gesture he commonly makes during debates.
Read the exchange below:
Biden: "I've added to the Obamacare plan the Biden initiative, which is a public option, Medicare if you want to have Medicare, reducing significantly the price of drugs, deductibles, et cetera, made by underwriting the plan to a tune of about $750 billion and making sure we're able to cover everyone who is in fact able to be covered. Put your hand down for a second Bernie."
Sanders: "Just waving to you, Joe. Saying hello."
Biden: "I know, I know."
Watch here: