Alienated voters and strategic voters

[CajunBlazer]

2. I am not sure that is the correct view...

I will vote for the Democratic nominee regardless, but the coming election will not be decided by the true believers on either side. As usual it will be decided by unaffiliated voters who view themselves as moderates. They don't cater to any candidate they view as too conservative or too liberal.

For instance the previous two Republican nominees for President ruined their chances of being elected by moving too far to the right in order to obtain their party's nomination. If the Republicans end up nominating a radical conservative such as Cruz or Sanders or a clown like Trump, they will turn off those moderates. Likewise most of those moderates are very likely to view Bernie as too left leaning to be President.

That is exactly why the Republican establishment has lately favored more moderate candidates instead of radical bomb throwers. I think you can see that the Democratic establishment is reacting the same way. There is a logical explanation for the prevailing thinking of the leaders of both parties - the want to WIN!!!