Last week, there was a lot of news from a "Fox News" poll that showed all of the leading Democratic contenders ahead of Trump. That and some other results were part of Trump's Twitter spewing of how something is wrong with Fox these days.
But there was another number in that same poll that didn't get nearly as much attention, yet I found it even more fascinating. The pollsters questioned people who didn’t like either Trump or Joe Biden and asked which one of these two candidates they didn't like would they vote for in a race between each other. Biden won 43-10. As remarkable a result as that was, it wasn't what I found the most fascinating. It was wondering how other Democratic candidates who are currently less-favored in the polls than Biden would stake up with the same question. And what I found so fascinating about that was the realization that I think it’s an academic question. There are two reasons I find it academic. The first is that it's moot that they're less-favored than Biden right now, because whoever gets nominated (if not Biden) will be, without question, significantly better-known as the election nears. Indeed, almost as well-known as Biden is now. But it's the second point which which I most leaps out and fascinates me. – and it's that this 43-10 number isn’t about Joe Biden. It's entirely about Trump. After all, the question was asked to people who didn’t like Joe Biden – and didn’t like Trump. So, then when asked who they’d vote for between two people they didn’t like, they didn't say, "Well, okay, I like Biden enough to vote for him" -- because they already said they didn't like Biden. So, that means they went for “not Trump.” So, I suspect that whoever the Democratic candidate is, by the time of the election when that person is better known and shown to be 1) sane, 2) not a racist, and 3) not Trump, my guess is that the numbers would be somewhat close to the same 43-10 we see with Biden. Again, that 43-10 number is based on people who DON’T LIKE Biden. But they don’t like Trump more, in fact with a result that significant they seem to hate him. So, it’s almost (almost) academic who the Democratic candidate will be to this “I don’t like either” group. And in the end, it's those people in the middle who pretty much decide every election. Yes, the poll results that show each of the leading Democratic candidates favored over the Trump is interesting. But that the people in the middle -- and smack in the middle since they're not just undecided, but don't like either -- so heavily favor "not Trump" is, to me, the most fascinating result of all.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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