“They’re just not in tune with mainstream America.”
Pollster Frank Luntz made his first prediction about the 2020 election on Fox News Monday, and it was bad news for the Democrats.
Contrary to recent claims that the party’s base is more moderate than portrayed in the media, Luntz told host Howard Kurtz that Democratic primary voters are far to the left of most Americans. The upshot, according to the longtime GOP consultant, is that Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., will be their nominee.
“The Democrats who have moved to the left are in tune with the Democratic Party,” Luntz said. “They’re just not in tune with mainstream America.”
Luntz explained that the Democrats’ embrace of socialist-style politics was driven by populist anger, which he said was the same force that put Donald Trump in the White House.
“The public is really frustrated about being forgotten or left behind. And those two emotions, which elected Donald Trump, are alive not just on the right but also on the left,” he said. “It’s the reason why Bernie Sanders did so well in 2016 and why, I’ll be blunt with you, I think he is the most likely nominee in 2020.”
According to Luntz, Sanders being the Democrats’ nominee would be good news for Trump, who he said would have more to fear from a relatively unknown moderate like Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.
“Republicans should want that,” he said. “Sanders cannot appeal to the overall mainstream of the American people.”
Luntz later shared his prediction on Twitter, along with some pundit-like hedging.
My first prediction of the #Election2020 season.
Be sure to save it to ruthlessly tweet it back at me when I’m proven wrong.https://t.co/J5wL18EAQN
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) May 12, 2019
In the Fox News interview, he also advised Republicans who seek to win over moderates not to use the word “capitalism,” because it has been “demonized” by the media.
“If you want to oppose socialism, you oppose it by talking about freedom, not capitalism,” he said.
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