Elizabeth Warren is walking a tightrope. One of the Democratic Party’s most liberal candidates, Warren is successfully fighting Bernie Sanders for the far Left’s vote. At the same time, she is trying to prove to the Democratic establishment that she has what it takes to beat Donald Trump.
Warren is a career Democrat and a political insider who sits just far enough to the Left on the ideological spectrum to be considered an outsider. Much of Warren’s campaign has been spent emphasizing this point. She wants to be the candidate who unites a party that faces a deep divide from within, and it’s working.
Warren will likely win the progressive vote. Compared to Sanders, whose platform is most similar to hers, Warren provides energy and a clear vision to match it. As Stuart Appelabum, a member of the Democratic National Committee, told The Atlantic, Sanders “is providing more of economic aspirations; she’s providing more of a road map.”
Recent polls confirm Warren’s rise. Last week, an Economist-YouGov poll found that Warren garnered 20% of primary voters’ support while Sanders came in third, clocking in at 16%. A more recent poll average by Real Clear Politics shows Warren surging to close front-runner Joe Biden’s lead in Iowa, taking 18% of the vote while Biden drops to 26%.
But Warren’s “insider-outsider routine,” as Edward-Isaac Dovere called it, could be the very thing that sinks her campaign. As she continues to cozy up to the Democratic establishment, many of the “change-hungry” Sanders voters could see this and turn against her. Lean too far to one side of the tightrope and Warren will face a steep drop.
“I hope Sanders supporters see Warren’s broadening support as a good thing and won’t now cynically try to paint her as beholden to insiders, because she’s not,” a DNC member told The Atlantic.
For now, Warren’s aggressive policies and tactical solutions are enough to appease both establishment insiders and far-left activists. But will they be enough?
