Page 34 - Electability Argument News Today

Necessarily map over to election results? >> well, we saw that obviously in 2016. you could say it was kamala harris, take that, for instance, she leads the president by a point right here while hillary clinton won the popular vote by a couple of points over president trump in 2016. of course, that didnt add up to an electoral college victory which, i think, when you look at the biden campaign and the electability argument they are trying to sell democrats, thats one thing they want democrats se...

Like to say about the kamala/biden dustup? he apologized today. youve been following that. do you have any thoughts about that? >> i do not. >> okay. >> neera, what does that -- what does that tell you about the future, that she had no comment? >> i think that the obamas have made a decision to stay out of the primary for awhile. i think that barack obama, the president -- president obama says pretty regularly that the vice presidential pick was one of his best picks but thats pretty much where ...

Vote, he improves up to 47, 50. by historical standards, thats not a great number for an incumbent president. but trump standards, thats about as good as hes been doing. democrats might look at that and say, well, trump, maybe because of the economy, thats what this poll suggests, maybe hes tkpwhreting a little bit more political strength. this is what you want democrats look at if youre biden. is trump improving? his strength? matched up against all, biden against trump. suddenly the democratic...

Back now with our political team and their take on chris cuomos interview with the former vice president and democratic front-runner, joe biden. back with the panel now. kirsten, i do want to start with you because talking about that point, is joe biden closer to the broader democratic base than the other, particularly more progressive candidates. your thoughts on that. >> the thing that we have to remember is pretty much every poll has shown and any of us know anecdotally is the number one issu...

Hes ready to go head to head with donald trump or really with anybody. and so i think hes going to have to prove himself again to the american people that he can be that fighter that his son was talking about. he does have a history of fighting, but i think he lost some of that electability argument by performing so poorly against kamala harris. >> crucial to the 2020 election is this question of the -- future elections, the citizenship question in the 2020 census. president trump today seemed t...

To what do you attribute this to? on one hand the electability argument that we had been told about up until the debate was really about name i.d., and i was hearing on the ground that bidens support was soft, its clear that hes slipping, and that the majority of people of color who are the base of the party, particularly women of color had note yet made up their minds. i think kamala harris strong showing at the debate. particularly putting racial justice frorn the and center, and calling biden...

Numbers that his electability argument may be suffering here. and voters wondering whether or not based on what they saw on the stage thursday night is he in fact the best candidate they can put up against donald trump. >> and, ali, we talk about, look, biden falling in this poll, the clear beneficiary at the moment, kamala harris. how do the other democratic candidates in campaigns look at that though? there were all these questions headed into that debate. would anybody take a shot the biden? ...

Assuage the concerns about his campaign. >> and i think he also undermined the electability argument, right? i mean with such a weak performance, you know, his argument had been hes the most electable. he can be tough. he can be strong against donald trump, and there you see him wilting under the harsh, you know, prosecution of kamala harris. >> the whole pretty cat and he was the least risky choice and with this he becomes more risky. >> i wonder if his campaign has done him any favors because ...

In that sense everybody benefitted from the exposure. but ultimately the question is, when you see these people, its not just do you like them or -- its what are they about? what is their story? what is their message? and she has one. and i think thats one of the reasons she made progress in this race. there are -- i think castro did help himself tonight. it does help to position off of someone, and i was surprised that klobuchar, who really wants to stake out that sort of center-left moderate m...

Ali vitali is on the ground there in south carolina. just talking to folks down there, how are they processing this biden thing? >> reporter: look, i think that, again, you have a tuned-in group of voters who are looking at how this race is shaping up and so theyre aware of bidens comments. but when you hear that he has deep roots in this state an i think your panel is absolutely right, that they do see him through the lens of barack obama, i think theres a little forgiveness there. now, whether...