With 2024 looking like a Biden-Trump rematch, now's the time to let your imagination run wild about third-party plays like a Dwayne Johnson/Mark Cuban ticket--and then get sober about hard realities.
I always have a question about the "right direction/wrong track" question: How are people who believe that the incumbent party is "not going far enough" counted in the results? For example, if someone thinks that Biden should never have given in on oil leases in the Arctic and that we should be making faster progress on decarbonization, stopping all fossil fuel incentives, taxing the rich more, opposing threats and limits on reproductive choice, and supporting immigration, while neither the White House nor the Republicans in DC or on the Southern border are doing the right thing with regard to these issues, would that person answer that we are on the "wrong track"?
The same "wrong track" answer of someone who thinks that Biden is a criminal, that Democrats are destroying the fabric of the country, that Trump is the savior?
Completely fair, and the only thing to say is it works both ways. That is, greater dissatisfaction--whether it's because a president goes too far or doesn't go far enough--is an indicator either way for weakness. I can make the argument that Trump is unique and therefore Biden will not be a repeat of this pattern (as 2022 suggests) but the weakness is still there and very worrisome.
Thanks for the David Karpf link, Micah. So timely. So sobering.
I always have a question about the "right direction/wrong track" question: How are people who believe that the incumbent party is "not going far enough" counted in the results? For example, if someone thinks that Biden should never have given in on oil leases in the Arctic and that we should be making faster progress on decarbonization, stopping all fossil fuel incentives, taxing the rich more, opposing threats and limits on reproductive choice, and supporting immigration, while neither the White House nor the Republicans in DC or on the Southern border are doing the right thing with regard to these issues, would that person answer that we are on the "wrong track"?
The same "wrong track" answer of someone who thinks that Biden is a criminal, that Democrats are destroying the fabric of the country, that Trump is the savior?
Completely fair, and the only thing to say is it works both ways. That is, greater dissatisfaction--whether it's because a president goes too far or doesn't go far enough--is an indicator either way for weakness. I can make the argument that Trump is unique and therefore Biden will not be a repeat of this pattern (as 2022 suggests) but the weakness is still there and very worrisome.