After two nights of spirited debate in Detroit, many Democrats may be feeling anxious: Their 2020 frontrunner didn’t entirely mollify concerns about his political skills, and his three major rivals positioned themselves in ways that could leave the party vulnerable in the general election. … Biden’s mixed performance yesterday highlighted […] Read more »
The second Democratic debate: Opening up the centrist lane
Ever since the 2018 election, the storyline around the Democratic Party has been at odds with the facts. The Democratic Party is, as it has been for many decades now, a center-left party and not a left-wing party in the style of European political parties. In the first Democratic debates […] Read more »
The core debate among 2020 Democrats: How progressive is too progressive to win?
… Given Trump’s success and given the number of 2012 voters who stayed home, is it possible to put together a campaign that energizes infrequent Democratic voters, doesn’t turn off those Democrats who vote regularly — and doesn’t further energize Republicans? Can the Warren-Sanders strategy of whipping up the progressive […] Read more »
Debate Podcast: The Moderates Push Back
After a first round of Democratic primary debates in which the conversation seemed to be guided by candidates further to the left, disagreements between moderates and progressives took center stage on the first night of the second round of debates. In this installment of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, Nate Silver […] Read more »
Sanders and Warren Battle Accusations of ‘Fairy Tale’ Promises as Intraparty Rift Flares
The leading liberals in the Democratic presidential primary, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, strenuously fought back on Tuesday against accusations of making fanciful promises and imperiling the party’s prospects against President Trump, as a group of moderate underdogs sought to slow their momentum in the second round of debates. […] Read more »
These 4 questions may determine how Democrats go from 2 dozen candidates to 1
… Over the next roughly 10 months, through the final primaries and caucuses in early June 2020, Democrats must reduce their field from the unruly herd of about two dozen candidates now contending to a single nominee. That process will unfold through innumerable tactical decisions by the campaigns, dozens of […] Read more »