How Joe Biden could win the battle but lose the war to Trump in 2020 [View all]

[uawchild]

KEY POINTS:

* Cook Political Report’s David Wasserman is challenging two broadly-accepted understandings about Joe Biden and the 2020 presidential race.

* That Biden’s moderation muddies his chance to lead a left-leaning Democratic Party, while his broad acceptability and blue-collar appeal makes him the strongest Democrat against Donald Trump.

* But the opposite could be the case - circumstances make his chances of winning the nomination strong, but his age and moderate views could dampen voter enthusiasm in the general election.

* The Democrats best-equipped to beat Trump, Wasserman says, include a young gay man and a young black woman who make party traditionalists nervous.

In Sept. 2017, with many political analysts still preoccupied by President Donald Trump’s blue-collar base, David Wasserman identified something else: the Democrats’ burgeoning white-collar base.

The Cook Political Report elections expert envisioned the looming 2018 campaign as the “Year of the Angry White College Graduate.” And that’s precisely what the mid-term elections became, handing Democrats control of the House of Representatives.

Now Wasserman is challenging two broadly-accepted understandings of the 2020 presidential race: that Joe Biden’s moderation muddies his chance to lead a left-leaning Democratic Party, while his broad acceptability and blue-collar appeal makes him the strongest Democrat against Trump.

Both notions, he argues, have it backwards: the former Vice President holds a strong position for the nomination race, but less so for a general election. The Democrats best-equipped to beat Trump, he adds, include a young gay man and a young black woman who make party traditionalists nervous.

Biden’s early polling surge has dented skepticism that he can win the Democratic nomination on his third try over three decades. But only slightly.
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The case extends to his age, currently 76, which would make him the oldest president to take the oath of office if he wins. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, gently drawing an age contrast with Biden, calls herself “a candidate for our times.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/07/how-joe-biden-could-win-the-battle-but-lose-the-war-to-trump-in-2020.html