(Quin Hillyer, Liberty Headlines) Some observers think U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the outspoken uber-“progressive” Democrat from Massachusetts, is putting her presidential cart before her senatorial horse.
Warren is starting a book tour that many believe is as much about positioning for a presidential race in 2020 as it is for her re-election to the Senate in 2018, even though she swears otherwise.
Her poll numbers, though, aren’t very good, indicating (at least by some analyses) that she is no shoo-in for re-election to the Senate. In January, a respected poll for TV station WBUR found that more of her home-state voters think it’s time to “give someone else a chance” than those who think she “deserves re-election.” Earlier this month, Morning Consult found that her “net” approval ratings (positive minus negative) at home, at 18 percent, are among the 25 lowest of the 100 senators – and with six of those doing worse than her experiencing abnormally low ratings after bruising 2016 campaigns.
Granted, Massachusetts is an overwhelmingly Democratic state where self-described independents don’t necessarily hold the balance of power they hold elsewhere, but another WBUR poll, out four days ago, still evinces reason for Warren to worry. In small towns in Massachusetts, not just Republicans but independents hold negative views of her – by a 54-33 margin (among the latter).
Warren insists that her new book, out this week, is not a precursor to a White House run in 2020, but merely a call to arms for Middle America. The book is titled “This Fight Is Our Fight: The Battle to Save America’s Middle Class.” But she won’t give a definitive “no” when asked if she will eventually run for president.
And no wonder. For hardline liberals, Warren remains one of the most popular politicians in the country, the heir apparent to the national following attracted by avowed socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont….