NBC reporter: The 'challenge' for Dems is their liberal base isn't 'comfortable' with going back to normal
A recent poll showed a whopping 65% of Dems say it's 'too early to rescind mask mandates'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NBC News Digital senior politics reporter Alex Seitz-Wald offered a blunt assessment of the "challenge" Democrats face as the push to lift COVID restrictions and return to normal continues to pressure liberals across the country.
A swath of Democratic governors announced this week they were lifting their state's mask mandates in the coming weeks.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}However, a recent Politico/Morning Consult poll showed a whopping 65% of Democrats who say it's "too early to rescind mask mandates," which is far more than the 43% of overall Americans, including just 20% of Republicans.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. (AP)
"How are these leaders squaring that… the numbers versus the sentiment?" MSNBC anchor Hallie Jackson Jackson asked on Wednesday.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Yeah Hallie, I think these Democratic governors are basically playing to where they think the ball is going to be if not where it is now, Seitz-Wald responded. "They’re kind of trying to get ahead of the inevitable because the trend lines have that a growing number of Americans, including a lot of Democrats, are heading towards if not already at the point of saying ‘You know what? We just have to get back to normal.’"
"And you see this kind of emerging message from some Democrats basically saying, ‘Mission accomplished,' that, you know, the policies of the Biden White House, the Democratic Congress, Democratic governors, they worked, our sacrifices were worth it, we got vaccinated, it's now time to enjoy those benefits. But that message hasn’t really been that loud because, as you pointed out, the base is divided," the NBC reporter said. "A large number of Democrats are not there yet. So I think there is going to be a challenge for a lot of Democratic leaders to get their base comfortable with the idea of going back to normal."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I mean, for the past two years, so much of the identity of what is meant to be a Democrat, to follow the science, was tied up in masking and following these rules and regulations. And if you didn’t do that, you were you know, a bad person, you were Ron DeSantis, you’re a denier. So, now these Democratic leaders need to get their base comfortable with unwinding all of that," Seltz-Wald added.