The 'But I Would Vote for Joe Biden' Republicans

[Sloumeau]

By Katie Glueck Dec. 25, 2019

NYTimes.com Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/25/us/politics/joe-biden-2020-republicans.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

...
Some Democrats have been warning the party not to obsess over these potential swing voters, arguing that electability calculations about mythical undecided moderates are futile at this moment of extreme political polarization.

But for many Biden supporters, those voters are their Republican-leaning relatives and friends. And their perspectives are an increasingly prominent consideration as the Iowa caucuses near.

“I think he could get the independents and moderate Republicans who refuse to vote for Donald Trump,” said Bailey Smith, 27, a leader in Atlantic, Iowa’s business community and an undecided voter who attended a Biden campaign event on Sunday. Asked whether she had any moderate Republicans in mind, she replied, “My dad.”

It’s a dynamic that helps explain why, despite Mr. Biden’s series of missteps and uneven debate performances, many Democratic voters still believe the former vice president would stand the best chance against President Trump in a general election, polls show.
...

By the way, more than 90% of the time in Presidential elections, whoever wins the majority of Independent voters, wins the election. That's because Democrats tend to vote for Democrats, and Republicans tend to vote for Republicans. It's the Independents that tend to do the most swinging. They are currently the largest single voting block, followed by Democrats, and last of all Republicans.

[hay rick]

1. I think a lot of the "moderate" support for Biden is rhetorical.

Republicans who find Trump personally repulsive want their family members to believe they are better than that so they say maybe Joe or maybe Bloomberg or Amy. The operative word is "maybe." From the article...Then there was Marie Hansen of De Soto, Iowa, who said she was “95 percent” decided on Mr. Biden. But at a Sunday night campaign event, she also described a friend — a now-disaffected Trump voter — who has been swayed by Mr. Trump’s criticisms of Mr. Biden and his son, Hunter. Ms. Hansen wondered about “just finding that candidate she can settle with.”

In my experience, the moderate self-description is often conciliatory and crumbles as soon as the conversation turns to specific issues. Most of these people are living and breathing in the right-wing information ecosystem and can be expected to come home to Trump when the ballots are counted.

[oldsoftie]

4. But some of those may not vote at all this time. And a few can make a difference in WI

[Gothmog]

42. Joe Biden is the only candidate who can definitely win over purple states trump won

Link to tweet

[oldsoftie]

2. I know people like this. And they voted for trump.

Of course everyone can see my pick is Biden, but I have mentioned before that I know 2 who do not want to vote for trump again. They expected him to become "presidential" after the election & are disgusted by him. But while they say they dont WANT to vote for him, they will if a Warren or Sanders is the alternative. They wouldnt vote for Biden either, but they may well stay home. And yes, they could be lying but they have nothing to gain from it.

[DownriverDem]

12. If they really don't

want to vote for trump & they don't want trump to win a second term. they will vote for Biden.

[ecstatic]

25. Are they going to vote in the Democratic primaries? nt

[oldsoftie]

36. No I seriously doubt it. I think you have to be registered as a Dem too.

And i doubt they'd do that

[Blue_true]

3. So, unless ten democrat is Joe Biden, those people wouldn't try to stop a monster? nt

[Demsrule86]

6. Since Joe is leading...he has a very good chance to be our nominee.

We won't elect a left left candidate.

[tirebiter]

10. Probably not.

Voting for Bolsheviks or open borders is beyond what they're shopping for. That's how they see it. That they'll vote for the liberal is almost beyond comprehension.

[ritapria]

5. Latest YouGov GOP National Primary Poll Results

Trump 91% Walsh 2% Weld 1% De La Fuente 1% ….There doesn't appear to be many "But I would vote for Joe Biden Republicans " in the United States …...The handful of Country Club Republicans living in the suburbs will vote for their rising stock portfolios , as well as those Trump corporate and income tax cuts …. We must energize our base to win this election …… Trump's deplorable base are poised to turn out in force …. They overwhelm us or we overwhelm them …..

[NYMinute]

8. In that poll, Biden was not one of the choices given. nt

[NYMinute]

7. A lot of the sane republicans will vote for Biden or stay at home if he is running

They will come out and vote for Trump if Sens Warren or Sanders get the nomination though. They are scary to republican ethos.

[Cha]

9. Mahalo for this report, Sloumeau!

[Sloumeau]

39. Cha, Na'u ka hau'oli! :)

[tymorial]

11. Purity politics

A ridiculous concept that transcends party

[aeromanKC]

13. Nobody who voted for Hillary in 2016 will vote for Trump in 2020

But there will be many who voted for Trump that will vote for the Dem nominee in 2020. These will be a net 2 votes for the Dems. A Trump voter in 2016 who does not vote in 2020 (or throws their vote away like many Dems did in 2016 because Hillary in a Landslide) is still a net 1 vote for the Dems. It will not take many of either of these to get to 72K. The more of the former, the easier it will be for the Dems to win in 2020!!

[Gothmog]

14. there is some evidence that Mr. Biden can connect with these voters.

Link to tweet

[Kurt V.]

15. data has been gathered. 15 % of repub vote can be split many ways. even then it's hardly a winning

Formula. New voters are the key to victory

[jalan48]

16. So we're not doing the deplorables thing this time around?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

22. I hope no Democratic candidate mentions those words.

I think the phrase contributed to the loss in 2016.

Attack the opponent, don't attack voters. No matter what you think of them.

[jalan48]

24. Yes, as well as the "no more old white men meme" we saw so much of in 2016.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

26. That's still a good meme for the primaries, but ...

... once we select the candidate, we should drop it. Especially if our candidate is an old white man. Then the general is a race between two old white men: one a potential president, the other a crazy, addled, out-of-shape cheating golfer.

[jalan48]

27. Yep, we will need to work together when the general election comes.

[elleng]

29. Sure as heck hope not.

As it described many of them well, it's served no one well.

[dlk]

17. Michael Moore has mentioned non-voters are the largest group, by far

[MerryBlooms]

18. republicans hate Democrats more than they hate trump,

they will not be voting for Biden or any other Dem. They will write-in or leave blank. The bullshit meme of appealing to moderate republicans is just that, bullshit. They hate us and want us dead. Complete waste of font and money pushing this bullshit meme.

[better]

30. While your assessment is not entirely without merit, it is not entirely accurate, either.

First of all, one should draw a distinction between those Republican and Republican-inclined voters for whom their affiliation is bordering-on or full-blown cultist and those for whom it is merely environmental and hitherto not given much serious thought. And second, we should remember that this administration has very likely resulted in a great many more people paying much closer attention to what goes on in Washington than has historically been the case.

I was raised in the south, and grew up a Republican. And I came of age under President Clinton, so I was fully immersed in all the rampant Republican bullshit against them from before I was old enough to vote. But as I began to see more of what was going on in Washington (in my case simply because NPR was the most sane radio I could find to listen to while I was driving all over the place for work), I began to realize that everything the Republicans were doing was completely antithetical to my values. Bush 43 vetoing funding expansion for SCHIP was the final straw for me, and I've been a Democrat from that day forward. Not holding my nose and voting against an individual Republican candidate, mind you, but wholesale complete opposition to anyone running as a Republican.

And that was the result of me witnessing Republicans' craven tolerance of the Bush 43 administration, and let's face it, as horrible as they were, they were nowhere near as wantonly cruel and blatantly racist as this administration has repeatedly shown itself to be.

We shouldn't put all our hope in Republicans seeing the light, of course, but it DOES happen, and it bears remembering that like Democrats, Republicans are not a monolith. And, perhaps, we should heed what Secretary Clinton had to say about the other basket of voters supporting Trump. Mainstream media's failure to address it adequately notwithstanding, she did go out of her way to remind us that not everyone who supported Trump is irredeemable. Truth is, she was right about both baskets.

[Tarheel_Dem]

20. Fingers crossed.

[Gothmog]

21. Joe can attract republican votes

Link to tweet

[Act_of_Reparation]

23. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Let's rely on "sensible" Republicans to "do the right thing".

What could possibly go wrong?

[progressoid]

32. Yeah. Remember all those Republicans that said they'd never vote for Trump...

and then voted for Trump anyway.

Not exactly a reliable voting bloc to base your election on.

[redqueen]

28. Lots of republicans have actually switched parties to support Yang.

Shouldn't be too surprising that many in that party are not willing to support Trump and are looking for a Dem to support this time

[Bettie]

31. So, we need to nominate a "centrist"

and call other candidates "Bolsheviks" in order to ensure that a few Republicans MIGHT choose to vote for the guy who promises that nothing will change for the donor class.

In the end, those Republicans will still vote party over country. Every. Single. Time.

[TDale313]

33. Chasing after "moderate Republicans"

Is a fools errand. They don’t exist any more. They’re the glitter-pooping unicorns Dems have been chasing further and further right for decades. We give up way too much to try and woo a handful of coy voters who have shown no indication they will actually vote for a “moderate” Dem and yet we leave the huge swath of more left-leaning voters feeling completely unheard. It’s a bad strategy. It has been and will continue to be. Given the choice between a Republican and a Democrat acting like a Republican, voters will choose the Republican every time.

[Bettie]

35. Exactly true

and every election cycle, we hear about how we really, really need to court only those slightly less evil Republicans while also hearing about how evil anyone on the Left is, because they want our government to work for the people, not the corporations, not just the extremely wealthy, but for all the people (which includes the super rich, but not to the exclusion of everyone else which is the current model).

[Shrek]

34. The article says Chuck Hagel wrote in Biden's name in 2016

And would vote for him again if he's the nominee in 2020.

That's worth thinking about, especially since he claims other Republicans feel the same way.

[highplainsdem]

37. K&R! Thanks for posting this!

[Sloumeau]

38. highplainsdem, you are very welcome! :)

[Scurrilous]

40. Thanks Sloumeau!

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

41. Some good comments from former Govenor Kaisch

Link to tweet