The most recent piece of evidence for the primacy of moderates comes from the Pew Research Center:

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Among Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters, somewhat more say they want the Democratic Party to move in a more moderate (53%) than more liberal (40%) direction. These views are about the same as they were following the 2014 midterm elections. In November 2016, after Trump’s presidential election victory, a somewhat greater share of Democrats (49%) wanted the party to head in a more liberal direction.

Now, the definition of what makes a moderate — like the definition of what makes a conservative (anti-constitutional, pro-debt and Russia-friendly, these days) — may change over time. Moderates in today’s Democratic Party are defenders of Obamacare and incremental movement toward universal coverage, something that only a few years ago would have been seen as quite progressive.

If you want a party moving to the extremes, take a look at the Republicans. “Nearly six-in-ten Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters (58%) say they want the GOP to move in a more conservative direction, compared with 38% who want it to move in a more moderate direction,” Pew tells us.

Contrary to the impression of much of the media coverage, the majority of Democrats don’t seem to be following the direction of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) or Sanders. Democratic voters’ objectives seem more nuanced than those plotting a wholesale revision of America. Even more than the economy (64 percent), Democratic voters want reducing health-care costs (77 percent) to be a top priority. Education, Medicare and the environment are picked by more than 70 percent of Democrats as a top priority. It seems there is a market for moderate policy proposals to hold down health-care costs, improve education, shore up Medicare and protect the environment.

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For all the talk of a divided Democratic Party, it’s still Republicans who less likely to feel their party is united:

Overall, 55% of Republicans and Republican leaners describe the GOP as mostly united on issues and its vision for the future. This marks a major shift from October of 2017, when most Republicans (63%) said their party was divided. Among Democrats and Democratic leaners, 63% describe the Democratic Party as united in its views on issues and vision for the future; in the fall of 2017, 56% said this.

It sure does seem as though some of the media narratives about division and extremism don’t match the recent midterm results or the polls.

Pew’s numbers correlate with Gallup’s findings that, although liberals are a narrow majority of the Democratic Party (51 percent), 47 percent are either conservative or moderate.

Well, you might say, “Primary voters will be more progressive than the party as a whole.” The problem is that there’s no evidence for that. As we noted, in the Democratic midterms, progressives didn’t have the votes to propel Sanders-endorsed candidates into the general election. And in 2016, the more moderate Hillary Clinton crushed Sanders among Democrats (64 vs. 36 percent). It was among independents that Sanders did especially well.

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What does this all mean? If there are a plethora of super-progressive candidates in the presidential primary all cannibalizing the same group of voters, there is a market for a moderate candidate — from both moderate voters and voters who think the party should be more moderate to win. Of the announced major candidates, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is the one aiming at the latter. If Beto O’Rourke and/or former vice president Joe Biden enter the race, Klobuchar might lose market share, but for now a strategy aimed at electability and moderation makes a lot of sense.