June 6, 2019

Polls are feeding the delusion that Biden is the one Democrat who can defeat Trump.

Things like this will skew rational Trump-haters to embrace Biden (click to enlarge and clarify):



The support for Biden is so much about imagining what other people want. And a poll like that reinforces the belief that other people will reject all non-Biden Democrats, and Biden is the neutral Democrat, the one who won't trigger aversion in others.

76 comments:

tim in vermont said...

I would be shocked if the party’s left lined up behind “Trump Lite,” but I have been shocked before.

Mike Sylwester said...

Some day before Election Day 2020, Biden will be asked what the USA should do about illegal immigration and about sanctuary cities.

whitney said...

I get weird little texts from I don't know if they're pollsters or not somebody asking me who I'm voting for in local and national elections. 100% of the time I lie and if anyone calls I will lie. At this point isn't everyone just throwing sand in the gears?

David Begley said...

Biden is supposed to be a leader and he can’t even properly lead his own campaign! One would think that given his plagiarism issues, he would inform his staffers not to plagiarize anything. But nooo! His staff stole the words for his climate plan.

Biden is an idiot. He can’t win.

Henry said...

Biden is barely unpopular and treading water.

Big Mike said...

@Althouse, you broke the code!

RK said...

Biden is the quintessential dolt.

MayBee said...

Biden is normal Democrats crying out for Not Crazy.

john said...

Biden will still make inroads into the 4 rustbelt states that Trump carried - MI, PA, WI, OH. Flipping these four gets 64 electoral votes and the election. Biden could also be competitive in AZ, UT. No other Dem candidate could pull these states into their win column.

Rory said...

I can't find a frame of mind for a person who is in a voting booth and pulls the Biden lever.

traditionalguy said...

Biden is a traditional American politician. That job of getting elected and childmolesting is all that he knows how to do. Half his supporters want one thing and half of his supporters want the other. And Biden is in favor of his supporters. But since Obama and Soros took the Dems down the Marxist/ Racist/ Muslim road to destruction the USA and took Biden with them, we cannot allow that American traditional politician to rule over us. Joe has also learned all of the Clinton tricks for selling the USA's military secrets to China and Russia for CASH.

Paco Wové said...

Comment seen at Sailer's site: "I’d vote for Biden over Trump in a heartbeat, if I knew that Biden was going to enact the sensible, moderate, pro blue collar policies he’s supported most of his career. But there’s no way in hell I’d vote for a Biden that is a Trojan horse for the radical, totalitarian far left wing of the Democratic Party"

Paco Wové said...

Biden is the Comfortably Numb candidate. "Vote for me and I will make soothing cooing sounds and everything will go back to Normal and you can go back to sleep, Gramps."

Jersey Fled said...

Biden has the weight of Obama's failures around his neck. Who really wants a rerun of the Obama years? Trump will win in a landslide.

gilbar said...

Jo Biden
No One goes there, anymore
It's too popular

rehajm said...

PARTY IDENTIFICATION
Republican 34%
Democrat 30
Independent 25
Other/DK/NA 10


Does that look like an accurate strata of actual voters in Texas? It doesn't to me...

Nichevo said...

Biden will still make inroads into the 4 rustbelt states that Trump carried - MI, PA, WI, OH.

President Trump would have to drop two nuclear weapons on Ohio to lose Ohio in 2020. One wouldn't do it.

Darrell said...

Why isn't Biden 50 points ahead?

rehajm said...

It will be more difficult this cycle to get the leftie deviants to buy in to Joe's coronation. It is believed this crap helps to soften up all the Anns.

tim in vermont said...

Some day before Election Day 2020, Biden will be asked what the USA should do about illegal immigration and about sanctuary cities.

And fracking
And coal mining
And unfair trade competition from China
And Keystone
And #metoo

etc, etc, etc. Biden is running on a cherry picked resume and hasn’t answered the first interview question yet.

Limited blogger said...

I almost feel sorry for the Democrats. Almost.

cacimbo said...

As a Trump voter I hope Biden does win the Dem nomination, I suspect Trump will destroy him in the general. As an indication of his intelligence he is following the failed HRC script, holding few campaign events based on the presumption his win is sure thing.

Temujin said...

Historically, people have had very short memories. In the age of the internet, twitter, facebook, google, podcasts, streaming audio & video, and of course, the Influencers, we are peppered with so much coming at us that our memories and our attention span is about the length of this sentence. There- you've already moved on.

People forget about Joe Biden. Anyone under the age of 55 may not know that Joe has a long record pre-Obama. He's a gaffe waiting to happen and his campaign has thus far, been shooting from the distance, keeping Joe mostly tied up, and under wraps. When this thing gets cooking and Joe gets to talking, he's done. Polls mean nothing unless they can tell you what people think, today and in the future.

Wince said...

Let's see if Biden gets a pass on his prodigious portfolio of foreign influence corruption during the Democratic primaries.

While most, if not all, the candidates, as I suspect, are really running for 2024, Bernie certainly and Warren likely are too old for a 2024 come-back.

gilbar said...

As an indication of his intelligence he is following the failed HRC script, holding few campaign events based on the presumption his win is sure thing.

I think the presumption is; that he will either say something stupid, grope some little girl, or pass out dead

rehajm said...

he is following the failed HRC script, holding few campaign events based on the presumption his win is sure thing.

That script worked for Hillary to 'win' the nomination last time. I suspect the idea is it will work for Joe this time, too. His 'win' is a sure thing if the Dems power structure wants it to be. Caucuses and primaries aint got much to do with it, really.

They'll worry after that how to install Hillary! as President. Even if it's that 'pass out dead' option for Joe. Though I suspect it won't come to that, he can just recycle his 'searched his heart' script from last time.

Democrats sure are saving money with the recycled scripts...

Beth B said...

"Rational Trump Haters"? That's an oxymoron.

tim in vermont said...

He’s hiding out because the first hard question he has to answer will sink him, whether he dodges it or not.

tim in vermont said...

Same reason Hillary hid out.

cacimbo said...

But is the Dem party behind Biden? Obama's failure to endorse makes me suspect they are hoping for a different candidate. I believe it was K. Harris, but her failure to catch on has Dem power brokers looking for a new favorite.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

“Biden is an idiot. He can’t win.”

Trump has made it pretty clear that he wants Biden as an opponent. No one on the Left can bring themselves to question why that might be. Biden is a pre-selected target, with the surveillance done and the weapons chosen.

rehajm said...

Same reason Hillary hid out.

BRING BACK MATT LAUER!

robother said...

I seems obvious to me that the winning formula for Democrats in 2020 would be a Warren-type lefty who embraced real immigration restriction. But between SJW and big money funders, it seems impossible for any Democrat candidate to carve out that lane in today's Democrat Party.

wendybar said...

Meh. Joe is a joke. Imagine all the plagarized speeches we would have to sit through. It will be sad if he gets elected, but way worse if any of the rest of the crowd do....

Rae said...

will skew rational Trump-haters to embrace Biden

Assumes facts not in evidence - namely, that there are "rational Trump-haters".

Rae said...

And it's always good to assume any poll oversamples Dems by 4-6 points. I suppose you can call that "margin of error", but it's not the margin of error anyone ever talks about.

readering said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mike Sylwester said...

During the 2020 campaign, Trump again will repeatedly bring relatives of murder victims up onto the stage. Again they will be relatives of people murdered by illegal aliens -- in particular by illegal aliens released by sanctuary cities. Again, Trump will give these relatives opportunities to grieve publicly about their families' losses.

Biden's response will be that Trump is manufacturing a fake crisis.

readering said...

Not me. I'm a rational Trump hater and can't see myself voting for old Joe. Starting to come around to Warren. But I don't buy this idea that he says dumb things so he's sunk. Trump says dumb things and his supporters don't care. I think Trump realizes that about Biden. He's heard that criticism before. And overcame it.




Unknown said...

Biden's current standing in the polls reflects his name recognition, the fact that he's been out of the public eye for a while, and his "by default" status. I think as people see more and more of him, he's going to fall in the polls until one of the other candidates who is rising in the polls to take his place starts getting more attention, and the public is reminded of that candidate's flaws, at which point they'll sink back down, other candidates (including Biden himself) will rise, and so on until the Democratic voters make their decision in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and it all winds down to one candidate on Super Tuesday.

readering said...

Trump jumped in the lead in a big field in part on name recognition.

wwww said...

"Biden will still make inroads into the 4 rustbelt states that Trump carried - MI, PA, WI, OH."

Biden wins the electoral college if he gets MI, PA, Wi.

He doesn't need OH or Florida to win, unless Trump wins a new state he lost with Hillary. Hillary was a bad candidate, so she did not win much that wasn't a solid blue state.

wwww said...

Prediction: Warren will end up with more votes and delegates then Sanders. But her numbers will be below Biden. She doesn't appeal to working-class, non-college educated voters. She comes across like an Harvard egg-head too them.

But she'll win a lot more Sanders voters. Sanders will sink, she'll rise. Biden will be higher then both.

wwww said...

Biden's current standing in the polls reflects his name recognition

Likewise Sanders. He's got great name recognition.

Stephen Taylor said...

Alf Landon and Thomas Dewey are rolling their eyes.......

Kevin said...

I'm so old I remember when all the Dems beat Trump in the polls.

Michael K said...


Blogger wwww said...
Biden's current standing in the polls reflects his name recognition

Likewise Sanders. He's got great name recognition.


Agreed but I also think there is yearning for a sane candidate, The Democrats are so far left they will never be able to get back close to center. The base, which I think is about 20% of the voters at most, has just gone nuts form the climate thing and abortion and socialism.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Joe Gropensniffer is seen as the Dem's "least insane candidate"

pitiful.

ConradBibby said...

"Not me. I'm a rational Trump hater and can't see myself voting for old Joe. Starting to come around to Warren. But I don't buy this idea that he says dumb things so he's sunk. Trump says dumb things and his supporters don't care."

I disagree about Trump's and Biden's both saying dumb things. Trump says smart things in an arguably dumb way, but mainly just in an over-the-top, highly un-presidential way. The points he makes are not intrinsically stupid by any means. Biden OTOH just says dumb things. (E.g., for Biden to say that, if he and Trump were in high school, Biden would beat the crap out of Trump, is just dumb. First of all, who believes that? Second, exactly which Dem constituencies is such a boast meant to appeal to? Third, a 70+-year-old man publicly re-living fantasies about being a BMOC in high school is just weird, not to mention un-presidential.)

cacimbo said...

Any Dem needs black base to win. Hearing the black talk show host tell Warren she was the original Rachel Dolezal make me suspect her stolen minority status is more of an issue with "minority" voters than media let on. Biden wins black voters because he stood by Obama.

tim in vermont said...

If you really were rational about your politics, you would be able to summarize our positions clearly and then explain why they were wrong instead of beating up on media createx straw men.

You would also be able to answer objections to your own positions raised here. No. You are tribal more than rational.

tim in vermont said...

That was aimed at readering, BTW.

Sam L. said...

Yeah, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

The Minnow Wrangler said...

I remember you and John going back and forth recently about people supporting candidates because they think other people like them. John Kerrey for example. Everyone thought everyone else liked him but no one actually liked him. It's the circle of "likeable-ness". Is there anyone who actually likes Biden or is it just that they think everyone else likes him? It's all so "meta" LOL.

wwww said...

Is there anyone who actually likes Biden or is it just that they think everyone else likes him?

Yes. Lot of older, non-twitter involved, non-college grads have strong affection for Biden. They like him, they're comfortable with him, he's closer to their age then to their grandchildren. And they're the ones who vote in primaries.

30-39 year old twitter tweeting, non-primary voting Democrats will have a lot less power in delegate choosing then your 60 year old non-college grad who has affection for Biden.

wwww said...

"The base, which I think is about 20% of the voters at most, has just gone nuts form the climate thing and abortion and socialism."

Don't confuse the twitter base with the primary-voting base. Likewise don't confuse the base in "Brooklyn NY" with the base in South Carolina and upstate New York. The ordinary primary voters who who will make this decision aren't those who are being publicized on twitter or the cable news channels or the NYTimes.

There's a lot of "ordinary," non-twitter reading folks who will make this decision; I've noticed people largely don't "get" who primary voters are outside of Brooklyn, NY or Madison, Wisconsin. Lots of primary voters live in Dubuque Iowa, Des Moines, Charleston South Carolina, Savannah Georgia, Nevada. Grand Rapids and Lansing, Michigan. They are going to vote in the primary, and they're ordinary, blue collar families.

tim in vermont said...

So what does Biden offer blue collar workers? More cheap shit from Walmart and high gas prices? What does he offer union steelworkers and coal miners? A white skin and a dick, is that it?

Yancey Ward said...

Biden is in hiding because he is 77 years old. How many 77 year-old men do you see out and about more than once a week? Even the ones I see in the gym (I work out in mid afternoon with a lot of men and women that age) are not all that vigorous or lively. From what I have seen of Biden in public settings this year, he isn't all that vigorous either. It takes incredible stamina to run for President- Hillary definitely didn't have it, and neither does Biden. Even Sanders does appear more worn down this cycle than he did in 2016. Of the Dem candidates over 65, only Warren seems to be up to the challenge.

Yancey Ward said...

Any Texas poll you see that shows the Democrat within less than 4% is a fraud poll at some level. I will lay it out there right now- Trump wins Texas by 10% against any Democrat that runs, even in a recession.

tim in vermont said...

Biden is in hiding because he is 77 years old.

The idea is to get him in with a commie veep and wait for him to keel over.

elkh1 said...

Trump was the only Republican candidate who would lose to Crooked Hillary.

Ergo, the DNC, Hillary, and the Fake Media pushed Trump forward, helped him win open primaries. The rest is delicious history.

elkh1 said...

Biden is hiding waiting for his plasticized youth looking face to heal.

Jim at said...

rational Trump-haters

Jumbo shrimp

Robert Cook said...

Anyone who doesn't feel aversion to Biden is either dead or seriously ill.

bagoh20 said...

The Democrats are doomed in 2020. If something terrible doesn't happen to Trump he is a shooooo in. If something terrible does happen to him, Nikki Haley will win in a landslide.

bagoh20 said...

The more we see of Trump the more we are satisfied with him. The more we see of Biden the more we will be convinced he is not up to the job.

Michael K said...

Lots of primary voters live in Dubuque Iowa, Des Moines,

The Iowa Democrat voters are the craziest of all. Socialism straight down the line.

I expect that most, like in most states, are government employees of one sort or another,

narciso said...

Indeed it was the plowshares group, plus the single payer group, that won Obama the iowa caucus in 2008, a deleted youtube shows him promising that Obamacare was the first rung to single payer,

narciso said...

oh never mind:


https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/06/03/joe-biden-lied-in-1987-with-claim-he-marched-in-civil-rights-movement/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29

Todd Roberson said...

Straight middle aged white men - the most hated sub culture in America right now - are still a very large voting block. And they're going solid ticket Trump in 2020.

Game over.

(Full disclosure: I'm a straight middle aged white man.)

Todd Roberson said...

I forgot to mention: sorry.

tim in vermont said...

t is that he is not openly against white men with dicks,

Wait ’til they read his green new deal.

Butkus51 said...

I still wonder why there are any poll results stories. Lot of energy goes into them. There's the polling, then there's the reports on the polling, then there's another poll, more reports, blah blah blah.



gadfly said...

But we all recognize how Trump media coverage carried him to victory in 2018 - so what is the issue with Biden getting heavy coverage among Dems when President Trump continues to hog print, internet and broadcast news?

gadfly said...

OOPS - sorry - meant 2016.

tim in vermont said...

You should charge Trump rent, gadfly. Except he would just laugh in your face just like the rest of us.