The Democratic presidential campaign has produced confusion rather than clarity

The Democratic presidential candidates have been on the campaign trail for nearly a year. Confusion rather than clarity continues to be the story of their contest for the 2020 nomination. … What continues to define the Democratic race is the absence of a candidate who has truly captured the imaginations […] Read more »

In DNC Debate, Race Played a Starring Role

Wednesday night’s DNC debate in Atlanta lacked energy or candidate engagement that many anticipated. … However, this doesn’t mean we didn’t see any friction on the debate stage. There was a concerted effort by the two African-American candidates in the race, Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, to put a […] Read more »

How The Fifth Democratic Debate Could Affect The Race

After a day of headline-making testimony in the House impeachment inquiry, the contenders for the Democratic nomination squared off in their fifth debate. The candidates largely eschewed talk of impeachment and mostly avoided the kind of conflict that characterized previous debates. In this installment of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, the […] Read more »

Running For President May Make You More Unpopular In Your Home State

Over the course of this election cycle so far, 25 major presidential candidates — by FiveThirtyEight’s definition — have entered the race for the Democratic nomination. That gobsmacking number sparked criticism that there were perverse incentives to run for president even if a candidate plainly had no shot at winning […] Read more »

Republicans’ advantage on national security has faded — and Democratic candidates are responding

Until the most recent debate, the candidates for the Democratic 2020 presidential nomination scarcely discussed foreign policy. Last week, that changed — prompted in part by a cascade of international events, including the Ukraine scandal, President Trump’s abrupt withdrawal of U.S. forces from northern Syria, and Turkey’s immediate attacks. So […] Read more »