You can always tell when Democrats are desperate when they start floating Michelle Obama as a possible presidential nominee.
After President Joe Biden’s abysmal performance during Thursday’s debate against former President Donald Trump, it appears they are desperate once again, which is why they’re floating the Michelle Obama idea for what seems like the 4,952,963th time.
Democrats are touting a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showing that if Michelle Obama were to enter the race, she would defeat Trump. When matched up against the former president, 50 percent of respondents chose Obama, while 39 percent chose Trump.
Interestingly enough, all of the other potential Biden alternatives, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Vice President Kamala Harris, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, all lost to Trump in the poll.
Michelle Obama also enjoys a higher favorability rating than both Biden and Trump. She was the only individual who had a majority favorability among respondents.
The poll also revealed that a significant chunk of participants believe Biden and Trump should both drop out of the race.
More than half of Americans say Biden should drop out of the presidential race following the debate. Just under half say Trump should drop out. A higher share of Democrats say Biden should drop out than Republicans who say Trump should drop out. Differences also emerge by race and ethnicity.
- Nearly three in five (56%) Americans agree Biden should drop out of the race following the debate. Just 46% of Americans say Trump should drop out of the race following the debate, ten percentage points lower than said so for Biden.
- While just 11% of Republicans say Trump should drop out following the debate, about one-third (32%) of Democrats agree Biden should drop out.
- Among independents, 60% say Biden should drop out following the debate, and 47% say Trump should drop out.
Steve Benen, producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show” wrote a piece for MSNBC in which he claimed that Obama’s polling lead “sort of” matters. He noted that Obama has repeatedly said she does not plan to run for president but argued that the numbers show that “Obama’s polling lead suggests there’s a broad political appetite for someone other than the former president” and said, “The challenge for Democrats is presenting those voters with a ticket they’ll be excited about.”
He’s not wrong on that last point – if, by some miracle, Democrats manage to replace Biden on the ticket, they can’t just run with a run-of-the-mill candidate. Even the most recognizable names among possible alternatives would still lose to Trump if the poll is accurate. Indeed, Newsom likely has the best chance, as Trump only beat him by one percentage point.
However, the chances of Democrats managing to come up with someone who is as well-liked as Michelle Obama are about the same as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez managing to impeach the Supreme Court.
Speculation aside, it seems most likely that Democrats are stuck with Uncle Joe, which means they are going to have a hard time of it in this election season.
