The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that many of the undecided voters in early primary states look more towards the electability of candidates instead of ideology:
Sarah Zbornik thinks Pete Buttigieg is authentic and inspiring. But Elizabeth Warren has the “let’s go get ’em” attitude that she thinks the country might need.Ms. Zbornik, a 47-year-old a teacher and real-estate agent in Decorah, Iowa, plans to participate in her state’s leadoff Democratic nominating contest Feb. 3. She is torn between the South Bend, Ind., mayor and the Massachusetts senator—two candidates who in recent weeks have stressed their differences in ideology and vision for the country.Like Ms. Zbornik, many undecided Democrats in states with early nominating contests say those differences aren’t driving their decision-making. In interviews, dozens of undecided voters named candidates who fall on opposite ends of the 2020 Democratic spectrum as their top choices.
Chris Henning, the chair of the Democratic Party in Green County, IA, agreed with the assessment. She believes people “want the change and hope, and somebody who can take on Trump and win” due to conversations with undecided Democrats. They want “to be fired up about somebody.”
The Wall Street Journal/NBC News polls in September and October showed a lot of the respondents first- and second-choice candidates did not match up ideologically.
When asked about health care, the majority of the undecided Democrats explained “that as long as candidates at least support a public option, as all the top candidates do, they could back them.”
However, while the early primary states are important, it’s the Electoral College that matters.
A New York Times/Siena College poll found that Democrats in battleground states prefer a moderate candidate. These states include Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin:
A majority of those surveyed said they wanted a Democratic nominee who is more moderate than most Democrats, and they overwhelmingly preferred one who would bridge the partisan divide in Washington.The party’s voters are more evenly split on the scale of change they are seeking from their nominee: 49 percent said they preferred a candidate who would return politics in Washington to normal, while 45 percent hope for one who will bring fundamental change to American society.
A poll from NYT/Siena College two weeks ago showed that Trump barely trails Biden in those states, but fares better than Warren.
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