DISCUSSION: Electability

Today’s post is about politics, so for this weekend’s discussion, I would like to propose a political topic, but a different kind of topic.

This time I am not asking whom you want to be president, or what candidate best represents your positions, or whom you plan to vote for.

This time I am asking a completely different question, one that is objective and unconnected to your personal preferences: What candidates, from both parties, do you think would be the most electable?

I’ll start. . . On the Democratic side, I think Biden is not very electable, due to his abysmal favorability ratings, but he may be the most electable candidate the Democrats have right now, so they would be wise to stick with him as they did in 2020. He will be electable if he is up against someone the Democrats can portray as an “extremist,” which, as the main post shows, is the Democrats’ kiss of death.

On the Republican side, I think highly of Ron DeSantis’s take-no-prisoners approach to woke ideology and other culture war issues. And yet, this will open him up to the E-word. I don’t think he could win. I suspect Nikki Haley or Tim Scott might prove more electable, pulling away female and minority voters away from the Democrats, while not scaring the independents.

I think they would win the general election, though I don’t see how they could get the primary nomination. And I’m not saying I favor either of them over DeSantis. As for Trump, for all of the enthusiasm he engenders among conservatives, he may be the only candidate who is less electable than Biden.

What is your analysis?