MSNBC Democratic Debate: Live Coverage

The question about whether Sanders can win a general election gets to the heart of the debate facing Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. Clinton talks about earning the support of young, energized Sanders voters. And of course the question is whether some of these strong Sanders supporters will simply sit out 2016 if their candidate doesn’t win the nomination.

The inevitable Iowa caucuses question! Sanders said he loves the Iowa caucuses, but he thinks “we need improvements in the process [of the] way results are determined.” That’s something both the Iowa Republican and Democratic parties agree with — which is why they tried modernizing the process in a partnership with Microsoft to develop a results-reporting app. But no matter what developments are made, the Iowa caucus count will never be perfect.

Bernie just mentioned that Democrats win when young voters are excited. Indeed, winning young voters is really important for Democratic candidates. In her opening statement, Clinton listed several social justice issues — topics, according to Pew Research, that are especially important to young voters, who are racially and ethnically more diverse and secular than older voters. According to Pew, 18- to 29-year-old voters leaned Democratic in 2004, 2006 and 2008. They did so again in 2012. And Sanders won a big majority of 17- to 44-year-olds in Iowa this week.