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Polling shows growing support among Democrats overall for a government-run health care system amid Republican efforts to tear down the 2010 Affordable Act. | AP Photo

By ADAM CANCRYN

07/27/2017 01:56 PM EDT

Updated 07/27/2017 03:34 PM EDT

A single-payer health care system may be the holy grail for many progressives, but a Republican plan to put Senate Democrats on the record voting for it couldnt get support even from Bernie Sanders.

Democrats on Thursday afternoon sat out a vote on a proposal for a completely government-run health care system, denouncing it as a ploy designed to score political points against vulnerable red-state Democrats and drive a wedge between the party to distract from the GOPs health care struggles.

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Four Democrats and one independent Joe Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp, Jon Tester, Joe Donnelly and Angus King voted with all of the chamber's Republicans against the amendment, which failed 0-57. The four Democrats are facing reelection in states that President Donald Trump won.

Im not going to support something thats a sham, and thats a sham, Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said before the vote. Not at the same time theyre planning to kick people off their health insurance. Its a bait and switch.

The introduction of single-payer health care into a conversation about unwinding Obamacare offers an inflection point for Democrats who have long shied away from endorsing the universal coverage system. The reality is, single payer is gaining steam in the liberal base, and mainstream Democrats like Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) have taken up the cause in Congress. A majority of House Democrats support a Medicare for All bill in the House, which is the functional equivalent of a single-payer system.

Thursdays vote, though, wasnt the moment for Democrats to throw down the gauntlet on single payer. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) derided his own amendment as socialized medicine that makes up the heart and soul of the Democratic vision for health care.

Sanders, a Vermont independent whos led the charge for single payer, had vowed to protest the amendment and encouraged other Democrats to do so.

Polling shows growing support among Democrats overall for a government-run health care system amid Republican efforts to tear down the 2010 Affordable Act. A Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll in June found 64 percent of Democrats backed a single-payer or national health plans, while the Pew Research Center that same month found a majority of Democrats support the idea for the first time in three years of polling.

Still, Democratic leaders have long resisted advocating for a massive expansion of the governments role in health care, wary of alienating independent voters and hanging swing-state senators out to dry on whats long been a divisive issue.

The partys economic agenda released this week notably excluded single payer, but Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the idea is on the table among other less divisive options for expanding government-sponsored coverage, such as allowing near retirees to buy into Medicare.

Senate Democrats face a tough electoral map in 2018, raising concerns that full-throated support for single payer could bury the party deeper in the minority. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Tester are among those who have expressed skepticism about a single-payer system.

If Republicans Obamacare repeal effort collapses, liberal activists are hoping to seize the moment to push for single payer. But Tester dismissed the idea as just talk earlier this month.

In this environment, thats all itll be, Tester said.

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Democrats are facing growing pressure from activists on the left who, despite supporting Obamacare, were disappointed that the law left the private insurance system largely intact. McCaskill has walked a tightrope on the issue, telling constituents at a town hall this month that shes concerned about the cost of such a program. However, she said now she believes Obamacare should have included a government-run public option to compete with private insurers.

I was against it at the time, she said in early July. So I think I made a mistake on that.

Democrats hesitant to embrace single payer can point to several failed state efforts to establish their own systems.

Money has proven a major obstacle, with states struggling to raise hundreds of billions of dollars to ensure care for all of their citizens. Vermonts 2014 attempt at establishing single payer collapsed over concerns that payroll taxes on businesses meant to fund the program would hurt the states economy. In Colorado, a single-payer ballot measure opposed by the states Democratic governor was overwhelmingly defeated last year.

Californias Democratic legislature devolved into infighting earlier this year after Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon shelved legislation creating a single-payer system. It would have cost an estimated $400 billion per year to cover everyone without premiums or out-of-pocket costs, according to a legislative analysis.

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Republicans try to bait Democrats on single-payer vote - Politico