Trump advisers are more worried about Elizabeth Warren than any other 2020 Democratic candidate
- President Donald Trump's advisers are more worried about the rise of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren than any other 2020 Democratic contender, The New York Times reported.
- They apparently don't share Trump's conviction that he can "hate-tweet [Warren] away" and are worried about her ability to capitalize on the populist energy that drove Trump to victory in 2016.
- Warren has seen a meteoric rise in the narrowing Democratic field over the last several months. That was especially true after three candidates - Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Gov. Jay Inslee, and Rep. Seth Moulton - dropped out within a week of one another.
- Insider polling suggests Warren is the candidate best positioned among their bases and who can capitalize on their departure from the race. She's also in good standing with the bases of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Vice President Joe Biden.
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President Donald Trump's advisers are more worried about the rise of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren than any other 2020 Democratic contender, The New York Times' Maggie Haberman reported.
Trump, who frequently derides Warren as "Pocahontas," is apparently convinced he can "hate-tweet [Warren] away," but his advisers don't share that view.
They also "see her ability to capitalize on the populist/outsider energy he ran on in 2016 and has tried to recreate despite holding office," Haberman wrote.
Warren has seen a meteoric rise in a narrowing Democratic field over the past several months. Most recently, three 2020 candidates dropped out within a week of one another: New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, and Rep. Seth Moulton.
The development could be a boon for Warren, according to Insider polling that suggests Warren is best positioned with each of the candidates' bases to capitalize on their departures from the race.
Warren is the best-known candidate who has not previously run for president and is considered to be a strong general-election contender against Trump.
She also overlaps considerably with the bases of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Vice President Joe Biden. Insider polling found that 50% of Biden supporters and 57% of Sanders supporters would also be happy with Warren as the Democratic nominee.
This puts her in a good position as a possible strong compromise choice if either or both Biden's and Sanders' campaigns end up falling flat.
In addition to Warren's high name recognition, Insider polling respondents also see her as the third most electable candidate behind Sanders and Biden.
Warren is in third place at 15% in Morning Consult polling, and her favorability ratings and perceived electability numbers only keep getting better over time.
The Massachusetts progressive also has strong grassroots support, which could go a long way in boosting her candidacy. The Los Angeles Times reported that Warren and Sanders have both succeeded in fundraising their campaigns almost exclusively with small online contributions.
Other candidates didn't have as much success.
"A lot of them had a big burst of online fundraising at the beginning and thought they were going to be able to keep it going," Joe Trippi, who managed the 2004 presidential campaign of Howard Dean, an early phenom at grass-roots fundraising, told The Times. "They hired beyond their ability to sustain it. Several had to pull back."
Warren is well positioned heading into the third Democratic primary debate on September 12, hosted by ABC News. Unlike the first two debates, this month's debate will be just one night because 10 candidates qualified for the stage.
That means Warren will have a chance, for the first time, to go head to head with Biden and Sanders on the same stage.