this year, they re coalescing around one goal and one goal only, to defeat donald j. trump. what we have now is a front-runner embracing that in spades. joe biden s campaign ad in iowa underscoring this bottom line. we know in our bones this election is different. the stakes are higher, the threat more serious. we have to beat donald trump. all the polls agree joe biden is the strongest democratic to do the job. candidate b, his buy, jill biden, what might seem spontaneous with the same moment. your candidate might be on healthcare than joe is. you have to look at who s going to win this election. maybe you have to swallow a little bit and say, i personally like so-and-so better, but your bottom line has to be that we have to beat trump.
elizabeth warren and recognizes from his own run in 2016? i think donald trump and donald trump jr. with the pocohantas smear a week ago, that was a recognition both of them and the father in particular is worried about elizabeth warren. i think you will see donald trump targeting joe biden and elizabeth warren going forward. they represent threats to him in a different way. he sees joe biden he thinks wisconsin and michigan and swing states. he sees elizabeth warren, he sees someone smarter than him and more disciplined in him, on a debate stage could slice him up a bit. he was afraid of that with hillary clinton. the difference between hillary clinton and elizabeth warren, she s a much more effective messenger and brings real passion to this voters are starting to pick up on. we talked about biden in the last block and elizabeth warren. you have bernie sanders sitting there at 15, kind of tied with warren on the national level.
trust who s speaking to them honestly. for the left, they hear that in bernie sanders and hear that in elizabeth warren. i think joe biden sometimes tries to triangulate and that message gets muddled. for a lot of people on the left, they re excited for somebody willing to talk about the country and a vision for the country not so dark and terrifying. it s going to make them feel good about voting and participating in the process. it s felt pretty icky for a lot of people. i want to bring in elena schneider to the table. great to see you. i want to ask you if it s your experience, the experience i ve had, not from a partisan standpoint, not in favor of warren or against her, there s a chorus of people watching this race unfold who say despite the early stumbles early in her campaign, she s on a hot streak right now.
around this notion hillary clinton was seen as the safe candidate. at the end of the day, she didn t turn out the base. i think that s really on a lot of voters minds and a lot of people concerned joe biden might not be able to pull that off and be a repeat. if donald trump is on the ballot, i don t think they need anything else to motivate voters to go out and vote. two ways joe biden loses this nomination. number one, the flub you mentioned, an epic meltdown. number two, consolidation on the progressive wing, if in fact bernie sanders are added to elizabeth warren voters. that s why the poll numbers you just showed is so interesting. there is not necessarily a monolithic opposition to joe biden. the biggest threat, add up progressive voters, one drops out, a consolidation. puts elizabeth warren on his
then, today, comes the evidence that the biden campaign s unconventional strategy appears to be striving in this unconventional race. a new poll out this morning shows the vice president up 7 points since june, pulling way ahead of the rest of the democratic field by double digits. here to talk about the rest of this from the washington post, esteemed robert costa and also esteemed board member and executive editor for bloomberg opinion, tim o brien. thank you for being here. bob costa, i start with you, master of the campaign trail. are you surprised joe biden campaigning openly, nakedly, with his wife, both saying, hey, i m may not be perfect but the