Centrists doing damage control once again:
since modern voters tend to judge candidates less by their own idiosyncratic positions than by their party’s general image.
This is more correct than Vox realizes. The parties general image is determined by the vocal democratic supporters people know, not the actual positions of the party. The average democrat voter is far to the left of the average democrat politician and there's nothing the politicians can do about it.
These pundits keep telling politicians that victory comes from chasing a center that doesn't exist. America is polarized. Deal with it. Embrace your base like Mamdani or be abandoned by it.