The difficult choice facing Democratic primary voters looks even more inscrutable after last week’s first round of party presidential debates.
Nothing matters more to Democratic voters than picking a nominee with the best chance of beating President Donald Trump, who many party activists consider an existential threat to their values and priorities. But the question of which Democrat is most “electable” against Trump looks murkier and more contested than ever after last week’s debates. …
Many Democrats have found themselves not only assessing whether a candidate appeals to them personally but also trying to gauge whether the candidate will appeal to other people — Midwestern blue-collar white men who backed Trump, for instance, or young African-Americans who sat out 2016.
In effect, polls and focus groups suggest that many Democrats are approaching the field not only as voters looking to be inspired but also as political consultants looking to be convinced a candidate can win. The problem is that even many of the party’s sharpest political minds aren’t yet sure which candidate — or even whether a more liberal or centrist strategy — has the best chance of ousting Trump. CONT.
Ronald Brownstein, CNN