Quote (thesnipa @ 24 Aug 2023 22:14)
if trump drops out IMO a trump clone has worse prospects in general election than a more moderate candidate. but its just a gut feeling. in any case he got by far the biggest bump out of last night. prob went from like a 1% twitter troll to a legit 5-10% polling candidate in any polls without trump.
I think "moderate = more electable" is too simplistic. What Republicans need is a candidate who does one of two things:
A: really excite the GOP base and push their turnout while simultaneously being palatable enough to moderates that the bottom doesn't fall out with them... or
B: be really appealing to moderates while simultaneously being palatable enough to the GOP base so that their turnout doesn't drop off too much
Since 2018, the GOP has failed to find candidates who achieve either of these two paths to victory. Perhaps Glenn Youngkin in 2021. But that was a weird race in an off-off-year against a deeply flawed opponent, taking place against the backdrop of covid lingering far longer than Biden or Democrats had promised, so I'm not sure if that's a replicable blueprint.
Anyway, the key concern of these candidates right now isn't the general election, it's winning the GOP nomination. And a plurality of the Republican base still wants Trump, or at the very least a Trump-like candidate. What Vivek achieved in the debate is that in a world without Trump, DeSantis doesn't run away with the nomination by default. In this scenario, Vivek might now have a chance at getting into that race.
This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Aug 24 2023 02:43pm