Politico | “She sort of seems to be filling a
pretty strange lane. Is there a part of the party that hates the party?”
said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). “It’s a little hard to figure out
what itch she’s trying to scratch in the Democratic Party right now.”
The Hawaii congresswoman’s presence on
the debate stage is becoming a headache for the party as she uses the
platform to appeal to isolationists, dissatisfied liberals and even
conservatives. She has managed to secure a spot on the debate stage as
more mainstream candidates like Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Gov.
Steve Bullock (D-Mont.) failed to meet polling and donor thresholds to
participate.
Gabbard met with Syrian President
Bashar Assad in 2017 and has repeatedly attacked Clinton’s foreign
policy views, grating on Democrats who’ve broadly supported the
center-left international platform of Democrats in recent decades.
“She has views on foreign policy that
are so outside the mainstream as to be a real liability to the
Democratic Party,” said another Democratic senator, who requested
anonymity to candidly discuss the party’s issue with Gabbard. “It is
corrosive to have folks on that stage who represent views that are
clearly not right.”
Gabbard’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
While Gabbard isn’t exactly gaining
traction in the polls, she does appear to have a loyal following. The
vast majority of her support comes from male voters, according to FiveThirtyEight.
She’s also more likely to attract support from Democratic primary
voters who supported President Donald Trump in 2016, according to a
November poll from The Economist/YouGov.
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