Who Can Beat Trump? Hint: It’s Not Just Other White Dudes
As much as a patriarchal society would have us believe that only elder white males—namely Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders—possess the all-powerful “electability” to defeat President Trump in the 2020 election, a new poll offers at least one data point to the contrary. According to Quinnipiac’s latest national poll, Biden, Sanders, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, and Cory Booker could all handily beat Trump, too. How’s that for “electability”?
Quinnipiac found that Biden remains ahead by “landslide proportions”: in a head-to-head match-up against the president, the former vice president would win by double-digits—53% support to Trump’s 40%. Sanders is not far behind, with the poll predicting a 51% win over Trump’s 42. But perhaps the most illuminating finding is that these veteran straight, white males aren’t the Democrats’ only hope to defeat Trump. Quinnipiac found that women can win: both Harris and Warren would safely beat Trump, with 49% of the vote to his 41 and 42%, respectively. And so could an openly gay candidate and a candidate of color: Buttigieg and Booker are tied with 47% over Trump’s 42.
“The head-to-head matchups give this heads up to President Donald Trump’s team: Former Vice President Joseph Biden and other Democratic contenders would beat the president if the election were held today,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll.
I can see the bumper stickers now: “Anyone in 2020.” Yes, the 2016 election proved that polls are precarious. But the latest from Quinnipiac just may chip away at the ignorant notion that in order to win in 2020 and end the national Trumpian nightmare, Democrats have to pull a retrograde U-turn and rally behind the nearest white guy; that only they could connect with mythical moderate Republicans or sway disillusioned Trump defectors. “White Dudes or Bust” is both a reductive and counterintuitive plan, one that argues that in order to beat Trump, we have to adopt his prevailing theory that anyone who is not a straight, white guy be marginalized and discounted—hardly a stirring progressive philosophy. Quinnipiac rightly notes that the presidential election is a long (long) 17 months away, but its latest poll could also be an upfront reminder, before the thick of primary season arrives, that Bernie and Biden aren’t the only tickets.
Originally Appeared on Vogue
