Future of the Democratic Party Ahead of Midterms

Well just a couple of months until the midterms and new polling suggests that Democrats have a notable national ballot advantage but recent high profile progressive primary victories are raising questions about the party's future direction. So joining us now more insight Victoria Churchill is back with us political reporter for the Daily Mail covering the hill and you guys have put it out to the people to see what they have to say and how they feel what the latest polling show for you. Yeah absolutely thank you so much for having me back Steve always great to see you. So we had some polling conducted for our publication in partnership with JL Partners and this now this was conducted the last week so you know the events of the last 24 to 48 hours are not reflected in this I just want to make that caveat there. But our polling showed us that Democrats have a advantage on the generic ballot so that is 50 percent of our poll respondents would prefer the generic Democrat candidate to 42 percent preferring a generic Republican. Now that eight percent was unsure but I think the other thing that's important to point out about this polling is that enthusiasm so younger voters as well as independent voters made up the least enthusiastic categories of voters so they were less enthused about going out to vote in November and I think that's important because if you look at that you know 50 and if you look at that eight percent and if you add that to the 42 and you're Republican you go well okay great so we're even but if Republicans are hoping to win over independents that are not enthusiastic about getting out to vote that could be a real concern when it comes to November. Obviously turnout is going to be huge Victoria a couple things real quick and I'm going to put a pause on the events of the last 24 hours we'll get to that in just a second but based on the polling we have two things right you have the stats that you just went over but then within the Democratic Party and I'll use them specifically because this is where we've seen a lot of movement lately you kind of have this divide right between the more progressive candidates and maybe the more centrist candidates what are you seeing there as far as not just the Democrats might have an advantage but which type of Democrat has the advantage? Well exactly as you point out Steve this is something that I point out in the article is that the Democrat Party is split there seems to be you know when talking about that enthusiasm that seems to be with the further left wing of the party now of course we saw the primaries in New York I was up there covering those a couple of weeks ago and then we've also seen that in other places across the country for example in Colorado there was a 30-year incumbent that was ousted by somebody that was in office basically as or excuse me that was alive as long as that incumbent had been in office so 30-year incumbent versus a 29-year-old upstart candidate and that just really goes to show that the Democrat Party is looking at this progressive generational shift now you know again you said we'd get to the events of the last 24 to 48 hours I think that really goes to show what that fight between the establishment and the progressives that is raging fully of course we have the the discussion out of Maine that's happening right now but we also are looking for example in states like Michigan where Mallory McMurrow dropped out she was also more of that progressive upstart kind of candidate and she said that she was suspending her campaign really leaving that showdown as well up to an establishment-backed candidate primarily Haley Stevens and then Abdul Al-Sayed running in that progressively in Michigan and early voting has already started in that state so real quick Victoria just a few seconds if we can the big developments coming out of Maine yesterday and in the last 24 hours what do you see happening there well I mean Platner is is done you know the DTRIP or excuse me the DSCC the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee which is the Senate Democrat arm national arm is saying that they're not going to spend any money in that race if Democrats want to take down Susan Collins they need a different candidate now you know Collins you know there's a lot of discussion about elder lawmakers on the hill as well for example with the Mitch McConnell situation but Collins actually seems to you know have the stamina I shared a video that I saw come across my feed that she was running during a July 4th parade you know I'm sure I would get pretty tired doing that and she is quite a few decades older than me so you know she is she is showing herself to be in in good health which of course is a concern when you talk about older lawmakers well we will see what happens obviously we have a couple months out until the primary but yeah a decision in Maine is going to have to happen before that ballot deadline comes up real quickly Victoria thanks always a pleasure Victoria Churchill is a political reporter covering the hill for the Daily Mail