What Went Down At The First Biden vs. Sanders Debate

Presumably this question is about Hispanics because of the fact that Univision is a cosponsor of this debate. But the bigger question for Biden is not his underperformance with Hispanics — as I said earlier, the exit polls have put him down by 10 points among Hispanics against Sanders, not a massive margin — but rather among young voters. Biden has gotten destroyed among young primary voters while Sanders has gotten crushed among old voters. Sanders makes this point here in that he’s attracted much more support from younger voters.

In general, though, I think it’s dangerous to say that enthusiasm or support for candidates in the primary will matter for the general election.

For what it’s worth, when I was reporting in California a few weeks ago, many people told me that the Sanders campaign was going to do really well among Latino voters because they made the investment in outreach to Latino communities — putting field offices in those communities, hiring organizers from those communities, building trust, and so on. The Biden campaign, meanwhile, has basically done no outreach to Latinos. And that seems to have made a big difference in states like California and Nevada. It’s not just about the issues, it’s also about actually trying to reach people and connect with them.