With Quinnipiac and now Morning Consult polls finding that Bernie Sanders has taken the national lead in the 2020 primary after his strong showing in the Iowa caucuses, Joe Biden has officially embarked on the final free fall of his career. If he cannot blow out South Carolina, moderates will likely coalesce around other candidates, undercutting the single best case for his candidacy, electability, and effectively ending his presidential bid.
So now is the time for the Biden campaign to push the electability angle full force, running every single head-to-head poll in swing states showing that Biden has the best odds of beating President Trump in any and all campaign materials. But apparently, Biden doesn’t even understand why voters gravitated toward him in the first place, leading to this doozy of a remark on the morning of the critical New Hampshire primary.
“I refuse to suggest any Democrat can lose. I think we could run Mickey Mouse against this president and have a shot.” —@JoeBiden pic.twitter.com/91dJpO5zCf
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) February 11, 2020
Biden has successfully won over older voters by arguing that he, both by age and amiability, is uniquely positioned to work with Republicans to get legislation done. A part of Biden’s appeal is his refusal to go full scorched earth on his opponents, taking smear job after smear job in stride. But the ship is sinking, and it’s time for Biden to go on the offensive.
Yes, he absolutely should argue that other Democrats can’t beat Trump, and he should do it not only because it reinforces the sole case for his candidacy but also because it is eminently true.
You may dislike Trump. You may even loathe him as a brash buffoon with little regard for decency and absolutely no sense of humility or grace. But no matter how much you believe “Orange Man bad,” it doesn’t change the underlying factors giving him a massive advantage in 2020: He’s an incumbent candidate governing over our strongest economy in generations with no major conflicts abroad, and despite becoming the third president ever impeached in our nation’s history, his approval ratings, as well as the public’s satisfaction in their personal lives and financial prospects, have never been higher.
That’s a recipe for reelection, especially considering that he’s a Republican successfully championing criminal justice reform and school choice who is potentially running against candidates with virtually no support from black voters.
It’s possible that if Amy Klobuchar became better known to voters, given her proven Midwestern appeal, she could come to beat Trump in swing-state polls. But she’s not there yet, and Bernie is only barely there. Biden is the sole candidate with consistently strong odds against Trump in key states — and thus, in beating him.
If Biden refuses to declare this when his campaign is on life support, much less refuses to understand it himself, he simply doesn’t deserve to win.
