As Jill Filipovic writes in today's NYTimes, “Does anyone actually want Joe Biden to be President?”
It is true that Mr. Biden is polling ahead of the other Democrats in the field by a large margin, including with women and voters of color. This early in the race, though, polling is more reflective of name recognition than anything else; the two leading candidates for 2020, Mr. Biden and Bernie Sanders, are recognized by 98 percent of Democratic primary voters. This also makes early polls a poor barometer for electoral success. At this point in the lead-up to 2016, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Scott Walker were the top contenders for the Republican nomination.
But the 2019 Democratic party doesn’t look much like him. It’s women, African Americans, Latinos and Asians that generally support the Democrats, NOT white men.
Statistics on who votes Democratic also suggest that the Democratic Party is more diverse than the experts deciding who is electable. Statistics on who votes Democratic also suggest that the Democratic Party is more diverse than the experts deciding who is electable.
It’s ridiculous to cater to and try to appeal to the white, male working class voter, who generally votes Rethug.
There’s also little evidence that most voters pick a candidate based on policies and that a moderate candidate who wrote campaign talking points to appeal to a broad swath of voters would do significantly better than a more visionary and progressive one. Instead of trying to win back a waning electoral and demographic force, Democrats would be better served to consider what will get voters to the polls.
The 2018 midterms was more representative of what we need and how we did than 2016. Women, women of color turned out in large numbers and that needs to happen again.
In several key states, including Ohio and Florida, white women with college degrees flipped: A majority voted Republican in 2016 and Democratic in 2018. White men, regardless of education, did not. It’s white women, not working-class white men, who are the most promising swing voters for Democrats in 2020, and who could wind up as loyal lifelong Democrats.
The whole thing is worth a read.
Gotta walk my Newfie. Be back later.
