U.S. Democrats are gear up for the 2020 presidential election campaign... with the first televised primary debates kicking off this week.
And eyes are on whether or not their "anti-Trump" message will be enough to win over voters' hearts.
Our Oh Soo-young has more,... with partial footage from NBC News.
"Beat Trump. Beat Trump. Beat Trump."
"We are united in defeating Donald Trump."
"I will be the guy that beats Donald Trump."
"Donald Trump has alienated our allies, stripped our medical care..."
"And it's just not working anymore. 2020 is a chance to change that."
As the Democratic Party's first primary debates kick off,... many of the candidates have taken a stand against the incumbent Republican President Donald Trump.
But will the anti-Trump agenda be enough to sway the voters?
"The mantra of their campaign is anti-Trump. And that's not substantive policy that Americans want to hear. Probably one of the biggest weakness of Democrats right now is that they don't have a focused agenda on what American people think is important."
Key Democrat contenders have so far highlighted issues such as climate change, and the expansion of social welfare issues that have been neglected by the Republicans.
"All the Democrats, want to talk about climate change and put it back on the agenda. The whole issue of healthcare was very popular in 2018; it helped the Democrats take the House of Representatives and I think it's going to be very popular for and helpful to the Democrats in 2020."
However, it's clear the candidate has to be more than the run-of-the-mill, textbook Democrat to win over voters in swing states.
"We cannot win just the Democratic based voters, we need those swing voters in districts such as mine that where a lot of people had been laid off. And they may not like President Trump, personally, or like his behavior, but they also are not necessarily seeing anything with the Democrats."
Observers say the candidates need to focus on the economy,... and set out how they can top the low unemployment figures and optimism seen during Trump's term.
"I think the difficulty here is if the economy is still going very well in the U.S., Trump has a great advantage on that regard, so the Democrats will have to package their message in a way that deflects attention away from President Trump."
"Even though employment is very low, salaries haven't quite kicked up and so people are very interested in having wages go up."
While recent polls indicate Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren as the leading Democrat contenders,... observers are not ruling out potential twists and turns throughout the dozen primary debates.
Oh Soo-young, Arirang News.
