Hill.TV host Krystal Ball said Friday that there is a lesson to be learned from the ongoing spat between progressive Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Ball, who has repeatedly criticized Warren over the feud, warned 2020 Democratic candidates to stay focused on appealing to voters rather than the pundits.
“Don’t play to the pundits, play to voters.” Ball said. “There’s a reason why [former Vice President] Joe Biden and Bernie are leading and it’s honestly simple, they are both in very different ways, ignoring the pundits and playing to the actual concerns of voters.”
“Bernie has spoken directly to their economic interests, their class, their generational interests and Biden has appealed to that group of voters that prides beating Trump above all else,” she continued.
Warren and Sanders’s feud escalated during Tuesday’s Democratic primary debate in Iowa. Warren stood by her assertion that Sanders had told her that a woman couldn’t win the White House, while Sanders vehemently denied making such a claim.
When Warren later confronted Sanders about denying her claims, a hot mic caught her accusing the Vermont Senator of calling her a liar on national television and the two briefly squabbled over the issue.
But Ball said the feud doesn’t appear to be negatively impacting Sanders, and pointed to a new poll released Friday that showed Sanders holding his lead in New Hampshire.
The Emerson College poll found Sanders with 23 percent support among Democratic primary voters in the state. Former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D) place second at 18 percent followed by Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden who each received 14 percent support.
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