That’s certainly true at the elite level, where, as I noted earlier this year, centrist antipathy to Sanders is accompanied by centrist interest in Warren:.
Beyond ideology, Warren is, after all, a reasonably conventional Democrat who endorsed Hillary Clinton, not Bernie Sanders, in 2016.
Economic issues aside, her foreign-policy thinking reflects a dovish Democratic tradition instead of the actively leftist, Henry Wallace–progressive tradition that clearly inspires Sanders, who has stood outside the Democratic Party his entire career.
Morning Consult reports today that she is now the top “second-choice” candidate in the field (she’s third in first preferences).
She seems very aware of her positioning, as Joan Vennochi observed after watching Warren at the New Hampshire Democratic State Convention last weekend:.
In the context of a vast left-tilting Democratic primary field, Warren is now wisely carving out space as a passionate progressive who’s not a Sanders socialist.
We’ll see, perhaps beginning with this week’s debate in Houston, if other candidates begin to appeal for a gathering of Democratic tribes behind their banners. »