When then-candidate Donald Trump was running for president in 2016, he garnered the label of being the “worst candidate in history.” Yet after a stunning upset victory, the tides quickly turned on his Democratic foe, Hillary Clinton, who became Washington Post’s “worst candidate of 2016.”
Despite that history of Trump outperforming his detractors, some Democrats still believe 2020 is their election to lose.
Antjuan Seawright, CEO and founder of Blueprint Strategy and a Democratic strategist, told the Washington Examiner that the only candidate President Trump should want to face in the 2020 presidential election is Donald Trump.
“If I’m Donald Trump, I want to run against Donald Trump,” Seawright said. “What he does not know is who we’re going to nominate, who’s going to be the running mate, and the mood of the country next year.”
Citing “record participation in the 2018 midterms,” Seawright went on to explain that voters “spoke loud and clear” that they don’t like the way Trump is handling the job as president. And a lot of Democrats obviously think he’s beatable. As of February 2019, seven candidates have officially announced their campaigns for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, two others have sought exploratory committees, and dozens of others who have yet to announce anything are known to be considering the race.
According to RealClearPolitics, former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., are leading the pack of Democratic candidates with 33 and 12 percent, respectively. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., is in third with 7 percent, but leads several candidates who have officially announced their intention to run for president.
[Read more: Surging Biden ‘in the driver’s seat,’ 14-point 2020 lead over Sanders]
In late January 2019, a Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found that 43 percent of registered voters prefer a generic Democrat, while 36 percent support Trump’s re-election.
So, while Trump certainly has a lot to overcome, he’s been in this position – or arguably worse – before. If he’s unable to deliver on some of his 2016 campaign promises, he may wish he were running for president against himself.
