3 standout quotes from the New Hampshire Democratic debate, explained

Seven candidates met on the debate stage in New Hampshire on Feb. 7, sparring over questions on health care, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, race and more. We asked three scholars to pick out some of the night’s biggest moments as New Hampshire prepares to vote on Feb. 11.

Marie Eisenstein, Indiana University Northwest

“Is anyone else on stage concerned about having a Democratic Socialist on the top of the Democratic ticket?” - George Stephanopoulos

Gallup polls show that more Americans consider socialism “a good thing” today than in the 1940s –

The real question is: Will Americans be less likely to vote for someone who is a socialist or a democratic socialist? On that question, Gallup polls from both 2015 and 2019 suggests that

That means more than 50% of Americans are not willing to do so. This is a serious issue for the Democratic party in trying to unseat President Donald Trump,

Just how thorny an issue establishment Democrats consider this was vividly on display recently. Hillary Clinton decried Sanders ability to unify the Democratic party and expressed

Political commentator James Carville lamented, “Do we want to be an ideological cult, or do we want to have a

This issue -– who can beat Trump in November -– was a central theme of tonight’s debate. While candidates such as Buttigieg, Steyer, Biden and Klobuchar did not come out and say a socialist cannot win, they certainly tried to highlight what they believe is their more centrist appeal.

Aaron Kall, University of Michigan

“We’re gonna have to take Mr. Trump down on the economy, because if you listen to him, he’s crowing about it every single day and he’s gonna beat us unless we can take him down on the economy, stupid.” - Tom Steyer

“It’s the economy, stupid” is a famous

As Carville, Steyer and other political prognosticators have indicated,

According to the latest

On Feb. 7, the

In one regard, it’s shocking that a president that enjoys such tremendous economic support continues to have a job approval rating below 50%. Possible explanations for this dichotomy include a rising

Despite this disconnect, the economic impact of the

Joseph Cabosky, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

“Young people came out in higher numbers than they did during Obama’s historic 2008 campaign. And if that happens nationally, we’re going win and defeat Trump.” - Bernie Sanders

Sanders is claiming that, despite the lower than expected turnout in Iowa this year, the 18- to 29-year-old turnout was higher than it was when Obama won the 2008 caucuses.

Is this argument true? Not really.

In this year’s Democratic Iowa caucuses,

That said, there are two important notes. First,

Second, Sanders is implying he brought out the youth vote this year. It is absolutely true he

In 2016, only 16% of those under 29 went with someone other than Sanders. But

What does this mean for the general election? General election exit polls in Iowa showed young voters stayed relatively flat between

The big difference?

So, predicting a general election based on the youth vote in a primary, as Sanders is trying to do, can be highly problematic in swing states like Iowa.

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