Biden allies attack Warren's eligibility



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Elizabeth Warren in Springfield, Mass.

Senator Elizabeth Warren garnered 60% of the vote in 2018, but she has fallen behind other Massachusetts Democrats in statewide elections. | Jessica Hill / AP Photo

Elections 2020

Legislators in the state of origin of the Massachusetts senator said the results of his last election were a sign of weakness.

By MARC CAPUTO

While Elizabeth Warren goes to the polls, Joe Biden 's allies in Massachusetts warn that her electoral history in her country of residence suggests that she is the weakest among the voters that Democrats must win for herself. to seize from the White House.

Although Warren was easily re-elected in 2018, Biden supporters said his performance among self-employed and blue-collar voters was proof that she would not appeal to similar voters in the Rust Belt, as had Hilary Clinton in 2016.

History continues below

"Most Massachusetts Democrats are concerned that in many counties where Senator Warren is performing poorly, they demographically and culturally resemble voters in major states," said state representative John Rogers, who supports Biden.

"The tangible fear here," said Rogers, "is that these Massachusetts counties are the mouthpieces of states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio – key states that Democrats can not afford to lose in the battle to beat President Trump. "

Warren's critics have long blamed the former Harvard professor for being too liberal and too disconnected from blue-collar voters to beat Donald Trump, despite an economic message that directly addresses many of their concerns. Eligibility, meanwhile, is at the heart of Biden's argument for nomination: his campaign positions him as the best-placed Democrat to defeat Trump.

Critics of Warren's "eligibility" generally do not come from Massachusetts, where she easily defeated GOP candidate Geoff Diehl in 2018, who kissed Trump in a state where the president is wildly unpopular. Even in her win – which she won without buying television ads – Warren's profit margin of between 60% and 36% did not impress: she lagged behind the other four Democrats who won the presidency of the state that year.

Although Warren has accumulated large margins in Boston and other Liberal strongholds, she has only won half of the top 20 ranked cities by percentage of independent voters.

The state's representative, Angelo M. Scaccia, pointed out that even the governor, Charlie Baker – the only Republican to have won last year in a solidly blue state – had obtained a percentage of votes higher than Warren's in 2018, as well as a greater total number of votes.

"The Republican governor was the main winner in votes, and the Secretary of State got more votes than Warren, largely dominated it," said Scaccia, a moderate Democrat. He added that Warren should have "crushed" Diehl by a wider margin since he stood as a proud Republican Trump in Massachusetts.

"It was the year of the woman," Scaccia said. "She should have done a lot better."

Scaccia noted that Warren had also raced well behind Attorney General Maura Healey, another female candidate for re-election in 2018 across the state. Healey, who won 70% of the votes at the state level, got a bigger share of the vote. Warren in 337 of 351 States cities and cities.

Another Democratic member of the Massachusetts legislature who supports Biden but does not want to criticize Warren, said the senator's performance in that state was reminiscent of Clinton's struggles against Trump in 2016 among untrained and white suburban voters.

"A vote for Elizabeth Warren at the primary is a vote for Trump in general," said the self-proclaimed Progressive Democrat. "We think of over-represented voters in other states and we do not want what happened last time to happen again."

Some national and state polls said Biden played a bigger role against Trump than Warren, partly because of his appeal to independent voters. A recent university Marquette survey In Wisconsin, for example, Biden beat Trump by 9 percentage points, while Warren tied him at 45 percent. Among the independents, Biden has 22 points for Trump, while Warren has 8 points.

And a new ABC / Washington Post survey 42% of Democrats think Biden would be better off against Trump, 14%, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, and 12% from Warren. In direct confrontation, Biden beat Trump by 15 points and Warren by 7 points in the poll, which shows Biden leading the president by 14 points among independents, while Warren only wins 4 points.

Non-graduate voters – a Trump force in 2016 – are in favor of Biden by 6 points while Warren links Trump to this group, the survey reveals.

Warren's supporters accuse Biden supporters in Massachusetts of providing confidential data as polls begin to show it is gaining ground. Although the senator's campaign refused to comment on this article, she was referring to a post-election situation. analysis Gus Bickford, chairman of the Democratic Party, said his victory was "the biggest margin of victory for all the candidates in the Senate or the governorship in Massachusetts in Massachusetts in the last 10 years."

According to Bickford's analysis, Warren has also improved his position with rural voters and non-white communities.

State Senator Eric Lesser, a supporter of Warren, said Warren was gaining ground with independent-minded voters in his Springfield-based district, which has a mix of rural and urban voters. suburbs in which five of the nine communities voted for Trump.

"My district was home to dozens of huge manufacturing centers," he said, referring to companies that have closed and left the group. "They left in the 70s and 80s and members of my community are looking for someone to get an answer to this question. And Elizabeth Warren and her message are in touch with them.

Mary Anne Marsh, a senior advisor to former Massachusetts senator John Kerry, said critics of Biden's supporters made them "very nervous."

"I heard that as part of conventional wisdom, just as I heard that Joe Biden could beat Trump. But since April [when he announced his candidacy]it was terrible, "she said. "What, the third time is the charm? He went to the presidency twice before. What makes people believe that this time will be different?

Regarding Warren's blue-collar appeal, Marsh pointed out that he had defeated Senator Scott Brown 54 to 46 percent in 2012 – and that he had supported it with the firefighters' union which, in his opinion, had too often sided with the Republicans. .

Scott Ferson, a neutral political consultant in the race, said Warren reminded him of his former boss, former Sen. Ted Kennedy, who was perceived as too liberal in less urban areas of the state.

"Elizabeth Warren may be polarizing a bit, which some see as a strident, in more conservative areas of the state, which is Kennedy-esque," he said. "But she beat Scott Brown and he drove a van. I understand the problem, but I think these legislators may be a bit too sensitive. "

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