A panel on MSNBC's Morning Joe expressed skepticism about Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D., Mass.) ability to defeat President Donald Trump in 2020.
"Americans don't want, 160 million Americans don't want to be told they can't get the insurance they want," MSNBC contributor Donny Deutsch said. "Elizabeth Warren, and I take a lot of heat for this and she's wonderful, is the only thing that can keep Trump in office."
Cohost Joe Scarborough said he has heard from moderate Democratic voters that not nominating former vice president Joe Biden could drive them away from the party.
"If what we're hearing is actually true, then Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, either one of them against Donald Trump puts the suburbs back in play," Scarborough said.
"When I talk to people who are high up in the Democratic Party, this conversation is real. There is a void, there is a problem about who can beat Trump," co-host Mika Brzezinski said. "The people who are really tired of Trump, who are looking for an alternative, who would be very comfortable with Joe Biden, they're left without a candidate if Joe Biden can't make it through."
MSNBC contributor Al Sharpton agreed with Brzezinski.
"The issue is not just policy, I'm hearing the exact same thing that Joe and you are expressing. It's a question of leadership," he said.
Sharpton added that voters are looking for a candidate who can demonstrate the strength to hold the country together.
Elizabeth Warren has surged in the polls, but questions remain about whether her policy positions are too extreme to attract moderate voters, and about her honesty. Recent polling indicates that the three Democratic frontrunners match up well against President Trump in the general election.