Do Democrats Want a Candidate Who Shares Their Values or Can Beat Trump? They are Split

In an analysis of the latest national poll from PBS NewsHour, NPR and Marist shows Democrats nearly evenly divided between wanting a presidential nominee they agree with on the issues (47%) and who was electable (46%).

I argued candidates have to blend them both.

Independent pollster Floyd Ciruli said the candidates are under pressure to identify with voters on the issues and come across as electable.

“You have to blend them both,” he said.

The article was published on PBS NewsHour site by digital producer, Gretchen Frazee.

The poll also pointed out that, although the President hasn’t improved his job performance approval for months (41%), his disapproval has declined from 55 percent in February to 49 percent in the June poll. Also, the number of people who said they would definitely vote against the President went down from 57 percent in January to 51 percent in this poll.

I argued that, given the number of controversies the President is involved in. it shows that he’s not being swamped by them. Democrats must be mindful that this is likely to be a tough race and issues, like the Mueller report, are not a silver bullet.

“That reinforces the fact that during this incredibly tumultuous period, there is no huge bump up in strong disapproval” of Trump, Ciruli said.