Our post-debate grades — which FiveThirtyEight’s debate-watchers submit anonymously and grade based on how much the candidates helped themselves in the quest for the nomination — saw this as another close debate, with Hillary Clinton getting a B-plus grade and Bernie Sanders a B.
| CANDIDATE |
AVERAGE GRADE |
HIGH GRADE |
LOW GRADE |
| Hillary Clinton |
B+ |
A |
B- |
| Bernie Sanders |
B |
B+ |
B- |
FiveThirtyEight’s Democratic debate grades
I’ll de-anonymize myself to say that I thought the difference was a little clearer between the candidates (I graded Clinton as an A-minus and Sanders as a B-minus). There are two reasons for that.
First, while there’s room to argue about whether Clinton’s constituency-building approach or Sanders’s
more targeted one is a more effective strategy overall, I think Clinton did a better job of executing her strategy tonight. She was able to present herself as a full-spectrum Democrat, especially in her closing statement. Sanders, conversely, had more trouble focusing on his core issues such as income inequality.
Second, Clinton appeared more relaxed and confident tonight than she did in the New Hampshire debate. I’m generalizing from small samples, but it was more reminiscent of the first Democratic debate (after which Clinton rebounded in the polls) than some of Clinton’s more recent efforts. Conversely, Sanders dated himself a bit with references to Henry Kissinger and Winston Churchill, something
he’s perhaps been smart to avoid given his supporters’ demographics lean younger.
I could be completely wrong. As I’ve said after the past few debates, it’s hard for journalists who are knee-deep in the campaign to see the debate through the relatively fresh eyes of viewers at home. Nothing tonight was a “game-changer,” I don’t think. But my opinion is that Clinton did a better job of speaking to the
more diverse audience that the candidates will be seeing in Nevada and South Carolina.
