Who can win in 2020? Voters shift focus toward centrists – By Christa Case Bryant (CS Monitor) / Nov 15 2019
The perception has been that all the energy in the Democratic presidential race is on the left. Things may be changing as many voters focus on how to win key states in the general election.
CONCORD, N.H. As the New Hampshire primary draws closer, and average voters start coming out to hear the presidential candidates in person, there’s a common refrain at Democratic events: We want someone who can beat President Donald Trump – and not just in coastal states like ours.
Even some avowed progressives are expressing concern that, as much as they love Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s calls for systemic change, programs like “Medicare for All” might be more than fellow voters across the nation can swallow, especially in the heartland.
That may explain an uptick of interest in Midwestern candidates like South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, as well as the last-minute entry of former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and the possible bid by a centrist like Michael Bloomberg. Despite the unusually large Democratic field, what’s emerging is a deepening sense that beating Mr. Trump will be no cakewalk.
A recent New York Times poll indicated that among the front-runners, only former Vice President Joe Biden would beat Mr. Trump in a majority of Midwestern battleground states – and only barely.
“We need to build a blue wall around those states … and make Donald Trump pay for it,” Senator Klobuchar told a theater full of voters in Rochester, New Hampshire, so packed at lunchtime on a weekday that more than a few people had to stand. To do that, she emphasized, the nominee must reach out not only to Midwestern Democrats but also to independents and “Republicans of conscience.”
Continue to article: https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2019/1115/Who-can-win-in-2020-Voters-shift-focus-toward-centrists
