Bloomberg trialing line of attack against Sanders in 42 congressional districts

[denem]

Bernie Sanders is a socialist who supports un-American, big government plans that will spend trillions of dollars, lead to higher taxes, and destroy our way of life. - polling script.

Voters are asked whether “the increased role of socialist ideas in the Democratic Party” is a good or bad thing.

Bloomberg shares polling with Dems showing Sanders would jeopardize House majority

Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s campaign says it has been sharing internal polling data with vulnerable House Democrats about how nominating Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) would jeopardize their majority.

The Bloomberg campaign polled voter sentiments in the 42 districts where members are in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Frontline” program that defends incumbents in tough reelection bids. ...

About half of voters polled, 47 percent, said “the increased role of socialist ideas in the Democratic Party” is a bad thing, compared to only 19 percent who described it as a good thing. ...

Overall, Trump has a narrow 48 percent to 47 percent lead over Sanders in the 42 swing districts. Trump’s lead grows to 6 points when voters are read an attack line about how “Bernie Sanders is a socialist who supports un-American, big government plans that will spend trillions of dollars, lead to higher taxes, and destroy our way of life.” ...

The Sanders campaign did not respond to a request for comment, but it has stated previously that it believes Sanders has a potent electability argument and could defeat Trump.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/484488-bloomberg-shares-polling-with-dems-showing-sanders-would-jeopardize-house

[rzemanfl]

1. I wonder how they adjust for people like me who hang up on push polls?

That said, I don't want Bernie to get the nomination.

[RandySF]

8. There's a difference between push polling and message testing

Every campy does the polling described above.

[rzemanfl]

10. The distinction seems a bit grey to me. I will read up on message testing. n/t

[Kaleva]

2. Looks like they are testing the effect an expected Trump attack on Sanders would do.

[denem]

3. It's a poll of 42 frontline congressional districts,

so yes, it's a test of the GOP line of attack for the GE.

[Tom Rinaldo]

4. "un-American... destroy our way of life." So is this what is called "differentiating"?

Bloomberg wouldn't use his billions to actually harshly "attack" a leading Democratic candidate, would he?

For all the outrage expressed in the past about how our candidates have weakened each other during prior primary contests by testing likely Republican talking points, I don't recall Hillary Clinton ever insinuating that Bernie Sanders was "un-American" or that his leadership would "destroy our way of life." Nor do I remember Bernie Sanders ever saying anything like that about Hillary Clinton. Nor her saying anything like that about Barack Obama, nor he doing so concerning her. Nor did John Kerry, John Edwards, Wes Clark and Howard Dean engage in those kinds of attacks on each other in 2004.

I'm not reliving prior primary fights, I'm appreciating how relatively ugly those fight's weren't in comparison to this.

[denem]

5. It's a test of the GOP line of attack.

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. That's not how we regarded "probing candidate weaknesses" in prior primary cycles

Lots of people got real upset over it, and it was mild stuff compared to this.

[denem]

7. I'm not defending it Tom.

[Tom Rinaldo]

9. Fair enough. Thanks n/t