Story highlights Bernie Sanders will deliver a speech to define "democratic socialism" before the next Democratic presidential debate

A new poll of New Hampshire Democrats shows only 48% would accept a socialist president

Washington (CNN) Top advisers and strategists for the Bernie Sanders campaign had long tried to convince their candidate of the need to address the stigma around the words "democratic socialist."

But Sanders never agreed -- until now.

Sanders is preparing to give a major speech soon to define and explain what it means to be a democratic socialist. This is a speech, advisers tell CNN, he committed to only very recently, an acknowledgment that the stigma around the term could be holding him back from truly challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

"He needs to reassure voters, especially in Iowa and New Hampshire, that they will be nominating someone who does have a real chance of winning," Sanders strategist Tad Devine told CNN. "The idea that this word is going to get in the way of voting for him, we're going to expose it for what it is. That this discussion over the term will not stop him as a candidate."

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