Democrats are in trouble before they even face Trump
Guardian:
Too old. Too young. Too white. Too leftwing. Anxiety over Democrats’ failure to find a standout candidate is raising fears that, despite astounding unpopularity and potential impeachment, Donald Trump could win re-election by default.Democrats did it to themselves. They have a weak bench since Obama was forced into retirement by term limits. Hillary Clinton didn't just fail to motivate, she turned voters off. People in some critical areas voted against her more than voting for Trump. Now that Trump has actually kept his promises he is getting even more support. That is why Democrats and the media are so desperate to impeach him for nothing.
The Democratic primary’s top tier of candidates does not include a person of colour even in the biggest and most diverse field in history. The leader of national opinion polls turned 77 this week and delivered another stumbling debate performance while fending off questions about his son’s foreign business dealings.
The poll leader in Iowa, which will get the first say, is the 37-year-old mayor of a small city who in some surveys is polling close to zero with African American voters. Two more septuagenarians have seen their momentum stall amid criticism that their healthcare reforms are too radical and unaffordable.
And then there are two last-minute would-be saviours: an ageing billionaire from New York and a former east coast governor who this week cancelled a campaign event when only two people showed up.
Watching it all with glee are Trump and Republicans, hardly able to believe their luck that they might not have to win next year’s election so much as watch Democrats lose it, just as Hillary Clinton did by failing to motivate turnout in crucial states in 2016. This week’s debate in Atlanta showed that the party is struggling again to find a nominee as inspiring as Barack Obama.
“When I ask my students, is there anyone on that debate stage tonight who you see as being presidential, most of them say no, there’s no one out there,” said Monika McDermott, a political science professor, at Fordham University in New York. “And they’re political junkies so they know as much as any of us do.
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