Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is running as the most liberal Democratic front-runner in decades in a bid to capture the young and diverse coalition that led to President Barack Obama's victories in 2008 and 2012,
The Washington Post reported.
Clinton has positioned herself to the left on a number of issues, from gay marriage to immigration, which in the past would have put her on the far left of her party.
The maneuvering comes from a strategic decision on the part of aides and advisers who have analyzed social and demographic trends and calculate that it will not hurt her among moderate and independent voters in the general election.
"Her approach to this really is not trying to take a ruler out and measure where she wants to be on some ideological scale," Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta said. "It's to dive deeply into the problems facing the American people and American families. She's a proud wonk, and she looks at policy from that perspective."
Aides also calculate that other issues she is weighing in on will resonate with the public, such as paid family leave, a higher minimum wage and more affordable college, while detracting from concerns about her hawkish foreign policy views. She has also taken liberal views on climate change, abortion rights and economic inequality.
The Post said that by taking such positions, her advisers are hoping that she avoids a serious challenge from the left while also finding support through the general election.
"Clinton's already moved her position leftward on numerous hot-button issues to the base, including immigration, gay marriage, Wall Street and criminal justice reforms," conservative America Rising PAC director Colin Reed wrote in a position paper Friday, according to the Post.
But he predicted that the positioning would backfire.
"Clinton's moves reinforce all her worst attributes as a candidate and hurt her image among voters of all stripes," Reed said. "Progressive voters know that she's not truly one of them," while swing voters "see a desperate politician staking out far-left positions that are outside of the mainstream of most Americans."
A number of political strategists also say that it would be unlikely for her to re-create the type of coalition Obama won, particularly among nonwhite voters. Nevertheless, they predict that her positions will draw strong support.
"The strategic advantage the Democrats have is that the distance between our base and the middle is shorter than for Republicans," Neera Tanden, president of the liberal Center for American Progress and a longtime Clinton confidant, told the Post.
Clinton has not yet taken positions on the Keystone XL pipeline or Obama's free trade deal, the Post reported, saying she remains cautious about speaking out on two key issues that liberal oppose, but her advisers predict that her silence will not damage her standing, the Post said.
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