Opinion: henryolsenEPPC writes that progressive candidates are only helping Trump
President Trump arrives on the South Lawn of the White House Feb. 8. By Henry Olsen Henry Olsen Columnist focusing on politics, populism, and American conservative thought Email Bio Follow Columnist March 18 at 2:09 PM Judging by the mix of Democratic candidates vying to take on President Trump in 2020, there’s clearly an appetite among some on the left to put forward a more progressive campaign to take the White House. But doing so would help one person in particular: Trump.
In each state, Trump’s job approval ratings are not at all predictive of how he fares in ballot tests. In South Carolina, Trump’s job approval rating is 50 percent. He gets 52 percent against Biden, 54 percent against Sanders and 56 percent against Harris. That’s a six-point gap between his job approval and his best ballot test showing.
Interestingly, Trump’s share of the vote goes up among Democrats, Republicans and independents alike the more progressive the Democrat. The share of Democrats who would vote for Trump in Wisconsin, for example, increases from 8.4 percent to 10.9 percent between Biden and Harris, and the share of Badger State independents for Trump goes up from 44.3 percent to 48.8 percent. But the biggest movement is among Republicans. In Wisconsin, Trump’s share of the GOP vote rises from 87.
It’s striking that this is true before Trump has started to contrast himself with any specific nominee. The Democratic primary campaign has already forced many candidates to the left on issues such as Medicare-for-all and the Green New Deal. Unless one of the leading candidates chooses to pointedly differ with the party’s emerging consensus, the next year will surely heighten the identification of the Democratic Party with its progressive wing.
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