What Went Down At The Nevada Democratic Debate

Poll Bot, is it possible that you’re not a robot? And that you’re just a pseudonym for FiveThirtyEight database journalist Dhrumil Mehta and politics intern Likhitha Butchireddygari? 🤔

Bleep bloop and welcome to the 2529837295th … uh … i mean … ninth Democratic presidential primary debate. Once again, I will be providing you with polling data so that you know what Americans think about the issues being discussed on stage.

I didn’t think robots could get tired, but after so many debates, I’m really feeling it.

I’m your Warren correspondent this evening and I’ll be monitoring a candidate who’s in a bad way. Once a co-front-runner of sorts, Warren now faces sliding poll numbers, lack of media attention after mediocre performances in the Iowa and New Hampshire contests, and a pervasive sense that she isn’t “electable.” According to our forecast, Warren is projected to win just 13 percent of the vote in Nevada. But in a pre-New Hampshire memo, her campaign emphasized that the support of some of Warren’s rivals is more ephemeral than it might seem and that ultimately, Warren would be able to collect the most delegates as “the consensus choice of the widest coalition of Democrats in every corner of the country.”

Debates have been moments in which Warren has shined, too, and there’s already some indication that her knife will be sharpened when she takes the stage. She seems particularly focused on attacking Bloomberg, as do a number of other candidates. On Tuesday, her campaign account tweeted out an article about Bloomberg’s notoriously short fuse and wrote, “It’s a shame Mike Bloomberg can buy his way into the debate. But at least now primary voters curious about how each candidate will take on Donald Trump can get a live demonstration of how we each take on an egomaniac billionaire.”

I’ll be watching to see how Warren addresses questions about or attacks on her campaign’s viability going forward, and whether she talks about the diminishing media coverage she’s received.