Biden - Approval

[*Nately120*]

(10-20-2022, 01:38 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: This may be my bias talking (and I'm responding to the OP because I don't have time to read 8 pages of posts so if this post appears to be 100% off topic, that would be why), but one thing I've noticed is that a democratic presidential candidate basically needs to be charismatic and likeable in order to win the general election.

Jimmy Carter (heart of gold, peanut farm, didn't mind if you said **** around him), Bill Clinton (played saxophone on talk shows) and Barack Obama (black people are generally considered cool in our society) were all considered "cool" or otherwise relatable politicians, whereas John Kerry, Al Gore, Michael Dukakis, Hillary Clinton and Walter Mondale were decidedly not "cool."

This doesn't seem to apply to Republicans who, in the same time frame, got GHWB, GWB and Trump elected despite none of them being considered cool or relatable by the general public (Ronald Reagan being the major exception).

My concern for the Democratic party is that there is no one within the party that I would consider relatable or "cool" in the way that B. Clinton, Obama and Carter were (Carter may be a stretch because he became much cooler after he was president, building houses for the homeless into his 90s). Biden may have been cool when he was vice president and was just pointing goofily and calling people jack, but he has seemed to age several millennia in the last 4 years and is more cringe now, especially with all the images and videos of him being creepy around children.

Like, who is there? Definitely not Kamala Harris, definitely not Cory Booker, Beto O'Rourke, Michael Bloomberg, Sherrod Brown, Tim Ryan, Amy Klobuchar, Gavin Newsom, or Elizabeth Warren.

Maybe Pete Buttigieg, who has thrown some solid daggers at Republicans during interviews, but being gay is still a huge electability concern in this country, sadly.

The coolest democrat, who isn't even a democrat, is probably Bernie Sanders, but many consider him too left to be electable.

I think there needs to be an Obama level ascension of a relative unknown in 2024 if we want to keep the Democrats in the White House. And that's pretty intimidating.

Unless the Republicans nominate Trump, of course, in which case Biden could probably win again. But if they nominate pretty much anyone else, I'm concerned about the Democrats' ability to retain the presidency.

Hard to say...I get what you are saying but Al Gore and Hillary Clinton for all their uncoolness and general "Bleh...same old" vibes did win the popular votes, so they had enough appeal to get more votes than the other side.

Mondale was in a hopeless election, but could have won in 88.  Still not terribly cool, and being the VP to Carter wasn't exactly as beneficial as being the VP to Eisenhower/Reagan/Obama was to Nixon/Bush/Biden, for sure.

I still think the 2024 election hinges upon Trump and Trump alone.  He's either getting the 2024 republican bid or he's going to cause enough of a ruckus to "Ross Perot" things.