this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2023
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Politics
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Well there already almost a dozen republican candidates, we just need to collectively back one or two that aren’t Trump. Does anyone have any thoughts on William Hurd who just announced? I don’t know much about him.
Are there any promising Democrats that are running against Biden?
@furrious09 @trashhalo
Marianne Williamson, and to a lesser extent RFK Jr are going to be ignored by outlets with the biggest audiences. If the gestalt of the Democratic Establishment is that there's no primary, the MSM isn't going to do a thing for candidates running against Biden from the left. Williamson polls at 5%-9% and RFK 10%-15% yet MSM will give all the coverage to GOP candidates who are polling under 3% and not Dem challengers.
The media definitely won't help, but both of them are pretty weak contenders either way.
RFK Jr. is a strident antivaxxer, which is a nonstarter for many people, especially those that vote in Democratic primaries. A good chunk of his press is arguably off the back of the Kennedy name, rather than the merits of his policies.
Williamson is (or at least was) a self-help guru, which could cause people to see her as untrustworthy. And unlike RFK, she doesn't have a political career or established name to draw on, just vaguely progressive "vibes".
I don't think a more established figure like Sanders would be doing well in the polls right now, either. We're a year out from the actual primaries, people's thoughts on them are vague, and they're more likely to just go with the default of Biden if asked. But RFK and Williamson don't have particularly strong cases beyond being non-Biden choices.
@catcarlson an actual elected official would be unpersoned by the media, and that's a known threat that anyone else but Williamson and RFK Jr would happen - if Al Gore (5 years Biden's junior) were to throw his hat into the ring he'd be blamed for everything including the fortune that he's gotten from Occidental Petroleum or from MBS via al Jareeza buying his Current TV, and every skeleton in his closet to ruin his reputation.
The Democratic Party is wholly undemocratic in it's top-down ways