If it weren’t for the national media forever attempting to heave Pete Buttigieg with rhinoceros strength, we would never think about him or that cringe-worthy dance his three supporters keep doing in Twitter videos.
But if we have to keep hearing about him, let’s pretend for a moment that the former mayor of Indiana’s fourth-largest city actually has a shot at the Democratic presidential nomination. In that case, the party should be doing everything it can to smother his campaign in its crib.
The Daily Beast reported on Monday that “a group of loosely affiliated Democratic operatives” are contemplating whether they should pull their resources together and “attack” Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont if he wins the Iowa caucuses next week.
Outside of some vague concern over “electability in the general election,” it’s unclear why Democrats would want to take out Sanders, who is currently leading in Iowa and New Hampshire (by almost 10 points in the latter), according to the RealClearPolitics average. Virtually every position Sanders holds is where the Democratic Party is or is quickly headed. And most importantly, he actually manages to garner sizable support from minorities.
Buttigieg, on the other hand, is in a distant third in both Iowa and New Hampshire. He has no discernible base of voters. And most importantly, he actually has to fabricate support among blacks.
A Democrat simply cannot win a presidential election without strong turnout from black voters. To put that another way, President Trump can win reelection without earning black votes, but Democrats can’t beat him unless they go over and above to earn their votes. The failure to turn out black voters at Obama-era levels is one of many reasons Hillary Clinton lost in 2016. Between 2012 and 2016, black turnout fell by seven points.
Right now, Joe Biden has the bulk of black support nationally at 48%, according to a new Washington Post poll. Sanders has 20%, and you can imagine most if not all of Biden’s black support going to Sanders should Biden drop out of the race.
As for Buttigieg? Drumroll! He’s sitting comfortably at 2% support nationally. Absolutely fatal.
Democrats should hope not only that he bows out of the race soon but that he never runs for national office again.
Sanders, as wild-eyed as he might seem, isn’t the one that “Democratic operatives” need to be afraid of. It’s a lackluster black turnout that should terrify the party.
