RiverDog wrote:I haven't seen any legitimate polls matching Trump vs. Biden or Trump vs. Sanders. Additionally, Hillary won the popular vote, so the real question is how would have Biden or Sanders done against Trump in the rust belt states of MI, PA, and WI where the election was decided.
Hillary had every advantage in the book: She ran as a Dem, of whom twice as many voters identify themselves as D's than R's. She had a nation wide organization, with experience in two POTUS campaigns as well as her Senate run. There was no reason for her making the mistakes she made in her campaign. Wisconsin hadn't gone to the R's since 1984, when Reagan won 49 states, yet she lost it, never even sat foot in it during the campaign. They were overconfident, did not detect the gradual swing to Trump in the waning weeks of the campaign and thus did nothing to counter. Trump beat her up badly with his "America First" theme that played especially well in the battleground states she had to win. She ran a horrible campaign. IMO a simple change of campaign strategy would have made the difference in this election.
Exactly. And she still lost to Trump. You could say the same thing of many of the Republican candidates that ran against Trump as well. They were better financed, more well known with their base, better supported by their powerful party members, and still he stood at the end. Sanders didn't even have enough power in the Democratic Party to ensure his own party didn't screw him, much less stand up to Trump and his cronies looking to crush him.
I don't think religion has much impact anymore, at least not Catholics and probably not Jews. I would guess that a Muslim would have difficulty winning a national election. But that's just an opinion.
That's what I used to think. You're being from Washington has made your view of religion as unimportant. We don't care about it here. I imagine you don't associate with many religious conservatives. Like I mentioned previously, I learned this lesson during Romney's run. I was surprised when talking with some religious conservatives how concerned they were with Romney's Mormon background. They did not trust Mormons. I'm not sure how closely they tracked it, but I wouldn't be surprised if Romney's Mormon background didn't cost him quite a few votes from his own party and undecided voters.
We did see the first black or mixed-race president as I prefer to see Obama. The first Jewish president might be in the cards at some point. You of the many on this forum given your knowledge of presidents should know religion matters. One Catholic president in history is no accident. And no Jewish presidents or close to it. Even Barry Goldwater was raised Episcopalian, though his father was Jewish.
Parties vet for religion. They won't talk about it in public, but they do it behind closed doors. I'd be very surprised if one of the reasons Sanders was tanked by the Democrats was because he was Jewish. When you want to win the White House, you go for as sure a thing as possible.
There are two big changes I'd like to see in American politics. The first is a viable 3rd party, and the second would be to do away with the winner-take-all aspect of the electoral college.
Electoral college is better than going by the popular vote. Not sure how you change it to make it more fair. I certainly don't want a cesspool like California deciding every election with their huge welfare state population.