Democrats have tough task to sway voters

In a bid to win in 2020, the party has to grapple with the fact that tilting to the left may not win back blue-collar workers and more crucially, may alienate the moderate base.

Published Mon, Jul 1, 2019 · 09:50 PM

Joe Biden

AS HE was vying to become the GOP presidential nominee four years ago, members of the Republican Party establishment and most of Washington's political insiders were warning that Candidate Donald Trump's populist-nationalist agenda, including his attacks against the "globalist elites" and his calls for restricting immigration and international trade, would end up alienating many moderate voters and ensure a Republican defeat in the 2016 race to the White House.

The conventional wisdom was that the Republicans should avoid embracing extremist right-wing positions and choose instead the centrist political route which was supposedly the direction favoured by most Americans. And if they wanted their party to win t…