Gallup--Less Than Half in U.S. Would Vote for a Socialist for President

[Gothmog]

Last edited Sat May 18, 2019, 02:39 PM - Edit history (1)

This polling would make it very difficult to win with a socialist candidate on the ballot https://news.gallup.com/poll/254120/less-half-vote-socialist-president.aspx

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Less than half of Americans (47%) say they would vote for a qualified presidential candidate who is a socialist -- the same percentage Gallup found in 2015. A socialist candidate is the only one among a dozen hypothetical candidates about whom a minority of Americans say they are willing to give their vote....

In spite of the expanded tolerance for diversity, candidates labeling themselves as socialists may struggle to gain traction in a presidential race, as Americans have not become more open to such a candidate. Even as political figures advocating socialist ideas have gained popularity in Democratic circles in recent years, less than half of Americans remain willing to give an avowed socialist candidate their vote. This creates a challenge for the Democratic Party, as it seeks to avoid alienating the Democratic socialists within its rank and file, while still aiming to win a national election.

[Tiggeroshii]

1. Good thing there won't be one. Even if Sanders gets the nomination

Because he isnt a socialist. If conservative Vermonters (who recently elected a republican governor) could tell that and vote for him en mass, so can everybody else.

[NurseJackie]

4. LOL!

Because he isnt a socialist.

LOL!

[Tiggeroshii]

6. Have you been to Europe? He is still to the right of some socialist parties in most countries there

And Europe is far from socialist. Democratic socialist is not close to the same as socialist. But I'm sure you know that

[NurseJackie]

9. LOL!

Have you been to Europe?

Doesn't matter. This isn't Europe. I'm sure you know THAT!

[Tiggeroshii]

11. And I'm sure you know what a socialist is. And that the same state

That elected a republican governor probably wouldn't elect a socialist.

Stop with the right wing talking points, no?

[NurseJackie]

15. Stop accusing me of "right wing talking points", yes?

Stop with the right wing talking points, no?

Stop accusing me of "right wing talking points", yes? I haven't personally insulted you, why personally insult me?

And I'm sure you know what a socialist is.

I know exactly what it is. Everyone knows how BS identifies himself, and we all know what it means. It serves no good purpose to pretend otherwise.

[Tiggeroshii]

18. Apparently not.

Or you are intentionally smearing him. That is a right wing talking point, and you should knock it off.

[NurseJackie]

20. No it's not. Even Cornel West describes BS as a socialist.

That is a right wing talking point, and you should knock it off.

No it's not. Even Cornel West describes BS as a socialist. BS describes himself that way too. I'm inclined to believe BS on this matter (even if it's not politically convenient at this present moment in time.)

[Tiggeroshii]

22. He should also cut it out

Because that accusation or description is actual bullshit.


Just because more people repeat the bullshit doesnt make it more true.

[NurseJackie]

24. " He should also cut it out" --- LOL!

He should also cut it out

[crazytown]

75. McDonalds doesn't serve burgers

they serve hamburgers.

[emmaverybo]

77. Stop. You are making me laugh!

[Gothmog]

16. Does Prof West know this?

Link to tweet

[genxlib]

13. All those things are true

But if you think the American electorate is capable of making that distinction, I beg to differ. Especially when we see hundreds of millions of dollars worth of campaign ads and social media.

They made people believe that Hillary Clinton was crooked and untrustworthy. They can easily make Sanders look scary regardless of the reality.

It would not go well.

[Tiggeroshii]

14. Vermont just elected a republican governor

If they can make that distinction, then so can flyover county. Every indication says they have.

[genxlib]

21. Sorry

But a statewide election in a small state like Vermont is not really indicative of a nationwide election.

I think it would be a colossal mistake to assume he can win.

[George II]

46. Sanders never got more than about a quarter of a million votes in any of his elections.

[BannonsLiver]

82. I agree. The problem is in our politics if you're explaining you're losing.

I don’t think the best messaging in the world could solve that problem. He would spend the general election campaign playing defense.

[SidDithers]

43. "Democratic socialist is not close to the same as socialist."...

Bookmarking for posterity.

Sid

[George II]

47. "Democratic" is an adjective, "socialist" is a noun. Junior high grammar.

[Cha]

65. "..too much of a reluctance on the part of progressives and radicals to use the word 'socialism"..

"And I think there has been too much of a reluctance on the part of progressives and radicals to use the word ‘socialism.’"

Sanders.. https://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/14-things-bernie-sanders-has-said-about-socialism-120265

Link to tweet

[Politicub]

90. Own and frame the word socialist. Don't run from it. It won't work.

Unless Bernie drops the socialist part of his democratic socialist party name, the word socialism will continue being part of what he needs to defend.

And that's okay. He gave a great speech yesterday where he tied democratic socialism to FDR's philosophy and theories of governance. But what is being reported is that, "Bernie said FDR was a socialist."

You can't change what the media says. Headlines are never written with nuance.

So the challenge becomes, how can Bernie and the people who support him continue reminding people that their preconceived notions are wrong? He is trying to thread this needle, and has an uphill battle in front of him. It's a battle he must fight, though.

[GulfCoast66]

95. But their preconceived notions aren't wrong!

Have you read the manifesto of the Democratic Socialists! I have.

They openly admit that their long-term goal is state ownership of many large industries and worker co-op ownership of others. In other words, socialism.

It’s not a dishonorable position, just one that I, most Americans, and most Democrats disagree with.

It astounds me that Bernie supporters refuse to believe him when he calls himself a socialist.

I can’t stand the guy but think he’s being honest with how he self identifies.

[GulfCoast66]

91. I choose not to disrespect his honesty on this matter.

He calls himself a socialist. He has his entire adult life. He is educated and knows the meaning of the word socialist.

I have read the manifesto of the Democratic Socialist Party. They freely admit their ultimate goal is state ownership of ‘important’ industries and worker coop ownership of other less important industries. An honorable position. Just one I and a majority of Americans do not support.

He is a socialist. At least have the decency to believe him.

A not small minority of democrats will not vote for a socialist and a larger group if independents.

I would, of course. Otherwise DU is the wrong site for me.

[Gothmog]

92. I was amused by sanders' amusing speech on socialism

Does sanders know that he is not a socialist and why is sanders claiming that socialism is good

[Clash City Rocker]

2. Hard to believe that anyone would be surprised by this

Until fairly recently, a politician would have no chance of getting elected, even in many liberal parts of the country, if the word “socialist” got attached to his name.

[NurseJackie]

3. Good to know!

This polling would make it very difficult to win with a socialist candidate on the ballot

Trump would easily win 48 states. EASILY!!

[Gothmog]

71. If sanders is the nominee, trump will win 45 states

[Skya Rhen]

5. This is why the socialist is struggling in every single poll...

[Tiggeroshii]

10. Stop repeating right wing talking points

The only people who call him socialist like that are fox supporters. That is absurd.

[NurseJackie]

17. That's not true.

The only people who call him socialist like that are fox supporters.

That's not true.

[Tiggeroshii]

19. It is absolutely true.

And you know better. Please stop

[NurseJackie]

25. No it's not.

19. It is absolutely true. And you know better. Please stop

No it's not. Unless you think that Cornel West is repeating RW talking points.

[Tiggeroshii]

26. Evidence please

Fo ahead and present me evidence his proposals are anything but fair market capitalism. I'll wait.

[NurseJackie]

27. Fo ahead and wait!

Fo ahead and present me evidence his proposals are anything but fair market capitalism.

Fo ahead and wait! Wait all you want!

[Tiggeroshii]

28. A typo is not evidence that Bernie has socialist policies

And your pettiness to pick that instead of focus on a substantive answer shows you have no argument. Thanks for playing, though

[NurseJackie]

30. "..I'm a Socialist..."

Skip ahead to about the 00:22 second mark!

Or click here: http://tinyurl.com/yypkwh55

[Tiggeroshii]

31. Really? Still no evidence that his policies are actually socialist?

Just a clip from more than 30 years ago also with no evidence that his policies are actually socialist?
Surprise. No not really.

[NurseJackie]

33. He said it, not me! I'll take him at his word!

He said it, not me! I'll take him at his word! (Still a RW talking point??)

http://tinyurl.com/yypkwh55

[Tiggeroshii]

39. I thought you knew what a socialist was?

Clearly if you believe a guy you dont even like over your better judgement, I cant help you.

[NurseJackie]

42. He said it, not me! I'll take him at his word!

Clearly if you believe a guy you dont even like over your better judgement, I cant help you.

I believe Bernie... whether or not I like him has no relevance on whether or not I believe him. I'm happy to take him at his word. I don't need your "help" but I do think that you should take BS at his word too.

He said it, not me! I'll take him at his word! (Still a RW talking point??)

http://tinyurl.com/yypkwh55

&feature=youtu.be&t=22

[emmaverybo]

78. So we shouldn't believe the horse's mouth?

[Tiggeroshii]

79. Considering you probably don't believe anything else he says, why start now?

Especially if your favored nomenclature for him happens to be "BS."

[Gothmog]

40. The GOP has large oppo file and would use this and other material if sanders was nominee

Trump had a two foot thick book of oppo research on Sanders http://www.newsweek.com/myths-cost-democrats-presidential-election-521044

They ignored the fact that Sanders had not yet faced a real campaign against him. Clinton was in the delicate position of dealing with a large portion of voters who treated Sanders more like the Messiah than just another candidate. She was playing the long game—attacking Sanders strongly enough to win, but gently enough to avoid alienating his supporters. Given her overwhelming support from communities of color—for example, about 70 percent of African-American voters cast their ballot for her—Clinton had a firewall that would be difficult for Sanders to breach....

So what would have happened when Sanders hit a real opponent, someone who did not care about alienating the young college voters in his base? I have seen the opposition book assembled by Republicans for Sanders, and it was brutal. The Republicans would have torn him apart. And while Sanders supporters might delude themselves into believing that they could have defended him against all of this, there is a name for politicians who play defense all the time: losers....

The Republicans had at least four other damning Sanders videos (I don’t know what they showed), and the opposition research folder was almost 2-feet thick. (The section calling him a communist with connections to Castro alone would have cost him Florida.) In other words, the belief that Sanders would have walked into the White House based on polls taken before anyone really attacked him is a delusion built on a scaffolding of political ignorance.

trump would have a great deal of fun using this video and other oppo on sanders.

I am so glad that sanders is being vetted this cycle because if sanders was the nominee, trump would win 45 states

[Gothmog]

35. Thank you for posting this

[NurseJackie]

37. Bernie Sanders's OWN WORDS: "I'm a socialist"

Youtube Link: (all cued up: just press play) http://tinyurl.com/yypkwh55

[Kahuna7]

57. Today show clip from 1981..."I'm not a capitalist" at 6:37

?t=397

[Tiggeroshii]

58. That is not evidence his policies are socialist

Last edited Thu Jun 13, 2019, 03:13 AM - Edit history (1)

Fair market capitalism is what they are regardless of what anybody has called them. There is still no evidence of this claim. Still waiting...

[Hortensis]

85. Oh, come on. He proudly socialist and always has been.

And that's okay. Although I really doubt most of the half who say they'd vote for a socialist would if they had an alternative on the left, which they do, and also if they knew what he believes in. Just in our current reality, making health insurance through work illegal -- with a stroke of the pen -- for the 160,000,000 who have it now, striping the right of all to choose for themselves, is a little clue to the man's potential though. All for our own good, of course.

But in one way you're right, in that for 2020 Sanders has made a shift to the right, no doubt to appeal more to conservative populists. His economic policies have developed the requisite nationalist orientation of populism, which is sweeping a world going dark and fearful.

Btw, you also really should look up democratic socialism. It's a form of socialism that of course has the communal ownership of business etcetera that is intrinsic to socialism, but control is organized differently, less centralized.

[Cha]

66. No, it's Not true.. BS calls himself that..

“In Vermont, everybody knows that I am a socialist and that many people in our movement, not all, are socialists. And as often as not — and this is an interesting point that is the honest-to-God truth — what people will say is, ‘I don’t really know what socialism is, but if you’re not a Democrat or a Republican, you’re OK with me.’

https://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/14-things-bernie-sanders-has-said-about-socialism-120265

[Skya Rhen]

29. How do you know who I am talking about?

[Jose Garcia]

32. What about this guy calling him a socialist?

[Tiggeroshii]

34. What about no evidence that his policies are actually socialist

Fair market capitalist is much more accurate

[Jose Garcia]

36. His own words would make a much more devastating campaign ad

[FBaggins]

45. So you're saying he isn't a socialist... just a liar?

Seems like a strange position to hold... but whatever floats your boat.

The point you're missing is that he can't win that argument. If he has to draw a sound-bite line between "socialism" and "democratic socialism"... then he has already lost.

[George II]

48. In his own words:

[Cha]

67. Repeat it as much as you want, Skya!

https://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/14-things-bernie-sanders-has-said-about-socialism-120265

[genxlib]

7. And that is before the smear machine is released.

The negative campaigning is going to be ugly this cycle. Socialism makes for an easy target.

Any candidate will have to endure some pretty awful tactics but I don't think it is wise to walk onto the battlefield in neon.

[pnwmom]

8. Bernie will never win a majority through the regular delegates -- he topped out last time

and since then has lost support to a number of others.

And if it comes to a convention vote, there's no way the superdelegates will decide to put him in.

[bigbrother05]

12. Which is still more than who voted for the fascist currently in the WH

[brooklynite]

23. No! No! No! You don't understand; he's a DEMOCRATIC Socialist!

Now, let me take 10 minutes to explain the difference while you tune out of the discussion...

[Skya Rhen]

38. Democratic Socialist: a socialist who uses the Democratic Party's infrastructure in order to

increase his/her probability of winning the elections

[brooklynite]

41. "from each according to his abilities to each according to his polling numbers"

[Kurt V.]

55. lol.

From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs describes the family unit worldwide. a beautiful thing.

[NurseJackie]

44. Daaaaaaamn!

[emmaverybo]

80. I didn't think I had any more laugh in me, but this is a classic.

[cynatnite]

49. Bernie will be painted as the old style socialist with a gold sickle and hammer on his forehead...

Whether it's true or not won't matter. The RW smear machine will go all out and Americans are leery enough to not vote for him.

I can well imagine the ads with Russian food lines from back in the day and his face plastered with it.

Don't think the RW won't do it. They will and they'll laugh all the while.

[NYMinute]

50. K&R nt

[BannonsLiver]

51. It would be much higher once the GOP got finished with Bernie in a general election

Thankfully it will never come to that.

[LongtimeAZDem]

52. I see only one flaw in your post

It's "Gallup"

[Kurt V.]

53. 47% would is much higher than i would have guessed

[LibFarmer]

54. I am with the majority here

In the very unlikely event that Bernie wins the nomination, I'll need industrial nose-clips.

[NurseJackie]

56. You'd need more than that because it would be a 50-state win for Trump.

[Gothmog]

60. I am predicting a 45 state win for trump if sanders is the nominee

[Gothmog]

59. There is no question that I will support the nominee of the party

I really doubt that the party will nominate sanders. There are far too many real Democrats who have long memories and who will not forget or forgive

[NurseJackie]

61. For the record: I have a good memory.

[Gothmog]

68. I was at the Philadelphia national convention

I will not forget or forgive what happened at this event

[Gothmog]

62. Bernie's mystery Soviet tapes revealed

In addition to the Oppo that the GOP already had accumulated, this comes out with even more material that will show up in ads if sanders is the nominee

Link to tweet

Sanders’ opponents, though, will likely find much in the tapes to call outlandish. And in a campaign season in which Democrats are concerned about nothing more than defeating President Donald Trump, there’s plenty of material that Democratic voters might worry the Republican Party could spin into a 30-second negative ad.

[PETRUS]

63. Fewer than half of those eligible voted for Trump, Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter...

...but they all won anyway.

[Politicub]

64. And half of the people can't name a Supreme Court justice

The findings of this poll are quite useless. But it would be interesting to run the survey again in six months and poll likely voters. That will be a better indication of how socialism may affect the election.

Does anyone else think of Tim Curry from the movie Clue when there's a negative post about socialists or socialism? I can't help but picture the poster as him saying, "and my wife had friends who were.... socialist." Cue the gasp from the crowd.

[BannonsLiver]

69. This explains the sudden fear of the S word from his supporters.

A few months ago they were super proud of it. Now they run away from it.

[Gothmog]

70. I have noticed that many are running away from the s word

[Gothmog]

72. Washington Post-Sanders wants Americans to buy into socialism. He's got some convincing to do

I do not think that the Democratic Party can win with a socialist on the ticket

Link to tweet

It’s a risky move, not least because he has some convincing to do — among his 2020 Democratic field and the whole country. “Should the Democratic Party embrace socialism?” is at the heart of its debate about what kind of candidate can beat President Trump.

Let’s start with the whole country. Less than half of Americans say they’d vote for a socialist for president. More say they’d vote for an atheist or Muslim, according to a Gallup survey in May. That’s the same as 2015 when Sanders first launched his presidency, despite his efforts during that campaign to warm Americans up to socialism. A Monmouth University survey in April finds 57 percent of Americans think socialism is not compatible with American values.....

“If we’re not careful, we’re going to end up reelecting the worst president in American history,” said former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper. (He got booed by a gathering of Democrats in San Francisco for saying that.) It’s also notable that the most vocal proponents of dropping socialism from the campaign trail are at the bottom of the polls right now....

Republicans are downright giddy about all this. What’s a scarier term to the American public than “socialist”? And with one of the leaders in the Democratic Party embracing it, their pitch to voters that Democrats want to radically change the country to something unrecognizable just got a lot easier.

[aidbo]

73. Bunch of hippie punchers in here.

[comradebillyboy]

83. Hippie punchers...LOL...are you suggesting that

Bernie is/was a hippie? By 1970 everyone had figured out that hippies were useless drones.

[aidbo]

87. That sounds like something you'd hear at a right wing rally.

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/hippie_punching

hippie punching (uncountable)

(slang, US, politics) Criticism of the political left, especially when used to position oneself as a moderate.

Punch away!

[comradebillyboy]

88. Hippies were extinct by 1975. They aren't relevant to the present.

[aidbo]

93. And you're missing all the points.

[comradebillyboy]

94. Perhaps you are just not making your point very well.

[aidbo]

105. You seem to really dislike hippies for some reason.

Which is a weird flex, but whatever.

Hippies really don’t have anything to do with what I’m talking about. I’m talking about a bunch of people in this thread who are Democrats, yet are denigrating those to their left to make themselves seem more moderate. Hippie punching is just the name of the phrase which describes this phenomenon. But you got hung up on your hatred for hippies, so you misunderstood what I was trying to say.

Have a nice day.

[LAS14]

74. Let's start using "progressive capitalist." nt

[JDC]

76. But a Fascist? No problem.

[emmaverybo]

81. You mean Bernie's primary rivals are fascists? I didn't know BS was our only choice. NT

[JDC]

86. Trump. 63 million voted for Trump

[Skittles]

84. less than half voted for a pussy grabbing con man

[mtnsnake]

89. FDR was sometimes pegged as a Socialist, yet he won 4 terms as President. He was also said by some

to have saved Capitalism after he incorporated his social type programs that turned the country around when it needed to be turned around the most. Just sayin'.

[Gothmog]

98. FDR was not a socialist

FDR Says New Deal Isn't Socialism

[mtnsnake]

102. I didn't say he was.

[KayF]

99. Obama was pegged as a socialist

and won twice.

[mtnsnake]

103. I miss him, Kay

[Gore1FL]

96. Probably less than half would vote for a conservative or a liberal...

Funny thing, math...

[Gothmog]

97. From the Washington Post-The GOP is giddy about running against a socialist

Link to tweet

Republicans are downright giddy about all this. What’s a scarier term to the American public than “socialist”? And with one of the leaders in the Democratic Party embracing it, their pitch to voters that Democrats want to radically change the country to something unrecognizable just got a lot easier.

“You add up things like packing the Supreme Court, getting rid of the electoral college, the Green New Deal and Medicare for none and you have a prescription of turning America into something it never has been and never should be,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said recently. “So we intend to be on the offense in running our races."

“We’re going into the war with some socialists,” Trump told a fundraiser in April.

This could be the defining debate of the 2020 election. Trump is so happy with that. Sanders is fine with that. The rest of the candidates aren’t so sure. But given the way this debate is shaping up, they may have no choice but to pick a side.

[Otto Lidenbrock]

100. every democratic president in my lifetime has been called a socialist

LBJ, Carter, Clinton, Obama

And three of the four are considered by actual socialists to be conservative dems!

[mtnsnake]

104. We Dems are way too nice. We should be calling Trump a Fascist way more often than we do

because he really is a wannabe Fascist.

[Farmer-Rick]

101. Too Late, they already have voted for a socialist.

Only he gives socialism to the handful of capitalist kings and calls it negotiations. The majority gets to be pummeled by out of control corporate greed. But the kings, they get their bail outs and hand outs while everyone else suffers.

[BootinUp]

106. I wanna see a poll on pot smoking candidates. Nt

[Gothmog]

107. The Democratic establishment fears the economy, complacency and "Sandersism" could let Trump win

Link to tweet

Jon Cowan, the president and co-founder of the moderate group, said many of the 23 candidates running for president can both excite the party’s base and appeal to disaffected Trump supporters. “I believe a gay Midwestern mayor can beat Trump,” he said in a speech on Tuesday morning. “I believe an African American senator can beat Trump. I believe a Western governor, a female senator, a Latino Texan or a former vice president can beat Trump. But I don’t believe a self-described democratic socialist can win, nor a Democratic Party that embraces those views or allows itself to be easily defined and labeled by them.”

[Gothmog]

108. New poll: Capitalism is more popular than socialism

Link to tweet

A new Pew Research poll finds that “a much larger share of Americans have a positive impression of capitalism (65%) than socialism (42%).” The partisan gap is significant, though: “Nearly eight-in-ten Republicans and Republican leaning independents (78%) express somewhat or very positive reactions to the term, while just over half of Democrats and Democratic leaners (55%) say they have a positive impression.” The intensity of anti-socialism sentiment (63 percent of Republicans have a very negative view) dwarfs that of pro-socialism sentiment (only 14 percent of Democrats have a very positive view).....

First, “socialism” is a red flag for Republicans and Republican-leaners to a degree that “progressive” (which 40 percent of Republicans view favorably) is not. There’s not even all that much payoff among Democrats, since 33 percent of Democrats have a negative view of that term, while only 12 percent have a very positive view of socialism. If you want a Democratic nominee to have the broadest ideological appeal, the most unifying descriptor among Democrats is “progressive” (88 percent), not socialism (65 percent).....

First, “socialism” is a red flag for Republicans and Republican-leaners to a degree that “progressive” (which 40 percent of Republicans view favorably) is not. There’s not even all that much payoff among Democrats, since 33 percent of Democrats have a negative view of that term, while only 12 percent have a very positive view of socialism. If you want a Democratic nominee to have the broadest ideological appeal, the most unifying descriptor among Democrats is “progressive” (88 percent), not socialism (65 percent).

[Gothmog]

109. Analysis: Will painting Democrats as socialists help Trump with Latinos?

Link to tweet

Headed into the 2020 election, the Trump campaign is hoping to cut into Latino Americans’ support for Democrats, and it seems they want do that in part by painting the left as socialists eager to implement policies like the ones that many Latinos hoped to leave behind in their move to the United States.

“Tomorrow night, many of [the Democratic Party’s] leading candidates, and the night after that, are actually going to openly advocate for an economic system that has impoverished millions,” Vice President Pence said Tuesday in Miami.

Making a reference to the various Latin American countries, most recently Venezuela, whose economies have been devastated under socialism, Pence added: “Now, Latino Americans know better than most about the cost of socialism. It’s impoverished generations and stolen the liberty of millions."

[Gothmog]

110. Analysis How Trump wins in 2020: Americans see his opponent as a "socialist"

Link to tweet

But there is one matchup in which Trump actually leads: When voters have to choose between him and a candidate they believe is a “socialist,” Trump led 49 percent to 43 percent.

This is obviously a hypothetical exercise. The idea that the Democratic nominee will call themselves a socialist is far-fetched (even Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont prefers to be called a “democratic socialist&quot . And just because Trump argues that his opponent is a socialist doesn’t mean they will be viewed by everyone — or even most people — accordingly.

But the finding does hint at how central this question could be to Trump’s reelection hopes. Given Trump’s long-standing unpopularity, a big question has always been whether he will be able to take the eventual Democratic nominee and drag them down to his level. He showed he could do it in 2016 with Hillary Clinton, who ended the campaign as unpopular as Trump was, but it’s not clear whether he’ll be able to do it again.

Trump also has some material to work with. The Democratic candidates in the first debate two weeks ago went further to the left on issues such as health care and immigration than in any modern Democratic primary. Many of them embraced single-payer health care, and some even said they would eliminate private health insurance. Many said they would decriminalize crossing the border without documentation, making it a civil matter. And many said they would support health-care coverage for undocumented immigrants, which California only recently became the first state to experiment with.

[Gothmog]

111. Why Elizabeth Warren Is Trump's Weakest Opponent

Link to tweet

Even if voters aren’t dwelling on policy specifics, their ideological perception of the candidates makes a huge difference. Democrats deliberately avoided invoking polarizing cultural issues when competing for swing districts last year—a strategy that allowed them to comfortably win back the House majority. The relative few who invoked a populist message like Warren’s lost winnable suburban seats.

It’s Politics 101: When there are more conservative (and moderate) voters than liberal ones, it’s very difficult to put together a winning coalition with just a progressive base. The only way to do it is by betting that Trump is so toxic that a critical majority of voters will automatically reject him. That strategy didn’t work well for Hillary Clinton in the last election.

Warren also carries other specific vulnerabilities into a matchup against Trump. She currently relies on a faction of white liberal support, struggling to win over African-American voters to her side. If Democrats believe the key to winning is by rallying their diverse base, it’s hard to see Warren accomplishing that goal. Her nomination threatens to be a double-whammy: turning off swing suburban voters without any gains in nonwhite voter turnout.

But make no mistake: They’re playing with fire. Trump is highly vulnerable, but he has the ability to win a second term if the Democratic nominee appears as extreme as he is. Warren has a realistic chance of becoming the next president, but she also could jeopardize it all for the Democratic Party.