538's "proximity ratings"

[PETRUS]

I was just reading through 538's Democratic primary forecast methodology, and found that one component involves rating the various candidates among four dimensions: social policy, economic policy, insider/outsider, and highbrow/middlebrow.

Here are their ratings for a few candidates:

Social policy from 1 (liberal) to 5 (moderate)
Biden - 4.0
Bloomberg - 3.5
Buttigieg - 3.0
Sanders - 1.5
Steyer - 2.0
Warren - 1.5

Economic policy from 1 (left) to 5 (center)
Biden - 4.0
Bloomberg - 4.5
Buttigieg - 4.0
Sanders - 1.0
Steyer - 3.5
Warren - 1.5

Insider/Outsider from 1 (outsider) to 5 (insider)
Biden - 5.0
Bloomberg - 4.0
Buttigieg - 4.0
Sanders - 1.5
Steyer - 2.0
Warren - 3.0

Highbrow/Middlebrow from 1 (middlebrow) to 5 (highbrow)
Biden - 2.0
Bloomberg - 4.0
Buttigieg - 4.5
Sanders - 2.5
Steyer - 4.0
Warren - 4.5

Do you agree with their assessments?

[leftieNanner]

1. The one that pops out for me

is that Bernie Sanders is rated as an outsider. Yes, he's not a member of the Democratic party, but he's been in government practically his whole adult life. How does that make him an outsider? Perhaps I'm not understanding this correctly.

[Gravitycollapse]

4. It relates to perceptions of the political "establishment"

While Sanders has been in office for decades, he has never been party of the “establishment”. That likely explains these results.

[David__77]

2. lol at "middlebrow!"

I don't know... is the "middlebrow" vs "highbrow" determined based on scanning photos of campaign rally crowds and judging whether or not they're likely to eat kale or talk about how "smart" others are?

[PETRUS]

5. Yeah, there is something amusing about that.

Here's 538's language:

Where they are on the spectrum between being a middlebrow candidate (1) who strikes broad populist themes and mostly appeals to working-class voters to a highbrow candidate (5) who seeks to appeal to the media and to college-educated voters.

[MoonlitKnight]

8. Dukakis covered the spectrum

Huge brows.

[David__77]

12. Lol..

...

[TexasTowelie]

13. Those were caterpillars!

[Laelth]

3. Yes. Those look pretty accurate to me. n/t

-Laelth

[PETRUS]

7. I thought so too.

I'm just wondering if others here have different opinions.

Also, I sort wish I'd asked how people would rate themselves on the social and economic policy scales. (I'd probably put myself at 1, and 1.)

[LiberalFighter]

6. I would go with what govtrack has.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/joseph_biden/300008

[PETRUS]

9. Thanks for the link!

Would it be fair to compare the "ideology" axis on govtrack's graph with a blend of "social policy" and "economic policy" on 538's matrix?

[MarcA]

10. The first two seem important, the next two not so much. n/t

[PETRUS]

11. I know what you mean.

They're not so important to me as a voter, but I guess 538 believes they are important in terms of how those qualities effect voting behavior overall.