The presidency is a man’s job.
At least that’s the current word from the progressive base of the Democratic party in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election. New polling from Democracy for America shows the men solidly in the top three positions followed behind by the women.
Here is the breakdown:
- Sen. Bernie Sanders, 36.14 percent
- Vice President Joe Biden, 14.88 percent
- Rep. Beto O’Rourke, 12.34 percent
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren, 7.89 percent
- Sen. Kamala Harris, 6.95 percent
These results, it should be noted, come 22 months, two weeks, and one day before voters head to the polls. A lot will change before Election Day. Even Yvette Simpson, incoming CEO of Democracy for America, said as much, noting that “with more than 14 months before Iowa, we expect these results to change as grassroots progressives hear the messages the candidates are running on.”
But the male cast still bothers some, such as Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. She thinks it would be just terrible if Democrats nominated another man to run for president.
“I did notice in that poll that the top three were, I think, Biden, Bernie, and Beto: three B’s, and all white guys. In a party as diverse as ours, does it worry you to see the top three being white guys?” CNN’s Van Jones asked Gillibrand this weekend referencing separate but complementary polling.
“Yes,” Gillibrand replied, adding, “I aspire for our country to recognize the beauty of our diversity at some point in the future, and I hope someday we have a woman president.”
Here, Gillibrand is simply camouflaging her ambition with flowery feminist rhetoric. As Becket Adams has previously pointed out in this space, and as anyone with eyes can see, the senator wants to display her fabulous wokeness as she decides whether to stay on the sidelines or break up the supposed boy’s club that makes up the current front-runners.
But set aside the fact that Gillibrand recently promised to serve her full term in the Senate. Disregard the inevitable eventuality that other candidates will rise and fall. The takeaway from the polling isn’t that Democrats, the party that put Hillary Clinton atop its ticket, are a bunch of sexists. Rather, the polling shows a profound lack of inspiration.
Sanders is a grumpy old man. Biden is a more cheerful old man. Neither has any new ideas. Warren and Harris trail them because they are similarly uninspiring. One has a DNA crisis and the other, a #MeToo problem combined with a history of siding with law enforcement, even against innocent defendants.
Young Robert Francis O’Rourke doesn’t have those problems, and no one seems to have his drunk driving crash on their mind. He doesn’t have any new ideas either. But the progressive darling has energy and an appeal that the rest of the field lacks at the moment.
Rather than bickering about perceived bigotry, Gillibrand and other female candidates should focus on finding a platform besides identity politics.
