Joe Biden has reportedly become more open in recent days to hearing arguments that he should step aside as the Democratic presidential candidate after the party’s two main congressional leaders told him they doubted his ability to beat Donald Trump.
While continuing to insist he will be the party’s nominee in November, the president has reportedly started asking questions about negative polling data and whether Vice-President Kamala Harris, considered the favourite to replace him if were to withdraw, fares better.
The indications of a possible rethink come after Biden tested positive on Wednesday for Covid-19, forcing him to isolate for several days while curtailing a campaigning visit to Nevada that had been part of a drive to show his candidacy was very much alive.
It also coincides with fresh polling data showing that he now trails Trump by two points in Virginia, a state he won by 10 points in 2020.
Since AOC / Bernie is out of the question for now, I think Newsom makes a good pick. If they nominate him, wonder who might be his running mate, he might bring in someone completely fresh so that’s fair
Dems just have to get as passionate about their guy as the Reps are about Trump. Tbh, there’s no one more inspiring than Bernie and AOC in American politics at the present moment because they talk about the vision they have for various topics, and not just that they’re not Trump
But Newsom has appeal for Dems, so maybe that’s all it’ll take, idk 🤷♀️ Just have to pump up the turn out by getting people to the polls
I agree with this. While I have no problem with the idea of a female President, I think every vote is going to count against Trump. A lot of old dems might stay home if they run Harris.
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While I do think he’s an effective bureaucrat and statesman, Newsom is genuinely reviled by California Republicans. Republicans not liking their Democrat governor is obviously nothing new, but there was nowhere near even 1% of the same vitriol being directed towards Jerry Brown, his predecessor and also a Democrat.
I kind of feel like Newsom doesn’t really have the chops for the national stage yet. He doesn’t have any accolades to his name, was mired in a scandal during Covid, and California is not doing so hot on the issues that the Dem establishment are trying hard to tackle. Chiefly among those issues is rampant homelessness and drug addiction, which the state has funneled billions into trying to solve and so far gotten nowhere fast. The attack ads almost write themselves.
To be clear, I do find him appealing (at least more than Biden), but I think he’s going to have an uphill battle at unifying the disparate Democratic party if he’s given 4-ish months to mount a campaign.
Honestly, I don’t know why the Dems care so much about how their candidate will be perceived. Nobody cares as much how Trump is perceived. Dems need to go hard like the Reps have, you can’t pull back punches when the opposition is striking hard