Optimist.
Every poll should have an option for the kooky accelerationist.
That position is “Sure, he’s horrible, but I’m not gonna like oppose him or anything.”
I fucked up my vote, hit the wrong button up there and said I’d like to see him re-elected, which I most definitely don’t. The UK under the buffoon Boris will be at the mercy of Trump, because we’ll need a trade deal after our disastrous EU referendum. I’m hoping to wake up soon and find the last 4 years have been a fucking nightmare :eek:
Is your username based on this classic Italian revolutionary anthem?
In November 2016, he was the lesser evil.
In November 2020, if he were to face an opponent with a track record of advocating left-wing economics, open borders, and gun control, he would continue to be the lesser evil.
I won’t fight the hypothetical but quibble with too much variation in the background of the person (GOP, Dem, X leaning independent) and not enough variation in view of Trump. I guess people with a fairly dim view of Trump but voted or might vote for him outnumber people who think he’s ‘great’. On the other side a lot people who voted and will vote for the Democrat 16/20 would take almost as dim a view of a ‘good guy’ GOP’er like McCain or Romney as Trump, if Trump disappeared.
A lot is driven by ‘lesser of evils’ for a huge chunk of people including me. The poll hardly reflects that in any choice, so I can’t answer it.
I voted the closest to: “Democrat and I wish the first mission for Space Force would be to transport Trump to Mars”, but I suspect that’s the sort of thing that’ll trigger the War of the Worlds.
Despite the above, I think I’ll miss him when he’s gone, sort of the way I miss the circus when it’s not in town.
I think the position is “The things Trump has actually done are not as bad as the things I imagine the Democrats would do.”
That’s not a totally unrealistic view by itself. If, somehow, the American Nazi Party managed to replace the Democrats and my Election Day choice was between Donald Trump and the Nazi candidate, I would vote for Trump. He’s very bad but he’s not as bad as a Nazi. And I say that, even though my knowledge of what a Nazi President would be like in office is theoretical.
But there’s the thing; a lot of people do not have a realistic view of what the Democrats are actually like. They simply accept what conservatives tell them is true about the Democrats without acknowledging that the conservatives have a bias against the Democrats and that conservatives have a pattern of saying things which are not true.
So the belief that Donald Trump would be better than an actual Nazi is reasonable. The belief that Donald Trump would be better than Hillary Clinton is not. The reasonable conclusion in 2016 was that Hillary Clinton was the lesser evil.
I was able to enjoy Trump’s antics when he was just a celebrity. But I don’t enjoy them when he has real power.
Of course most of us here want to dump him!
Just a nit-pick.
People keep saying trump has 65 million supporters. While that was true in 2016, but I think people need to keep in mind a couple million of those for some reason thought Hillary would be worse than Trump or were hoping Trump would save the day for them the little people.
I’m willing to bet that a lot of those voters are now soundly never-Trumpers. I’m thinking Trumps popular vote will be sub 62 million come November.
But what do I know, I’m just a “socialistic Canadian”.
MtM
A combination of the last two really; next to last mostly. But these days I don’t think much of POTUS as a position of power; I believe more of that to be in whatever Party Head has the House and Senate.
The way I read it explained on Reddit was this: If a pro-life Trump voter genuinely believes that abortion is murder, then that card virtually trumps everything.
“Trump does this or that bad thing” - “But Democrats support 1 million baby murders annually.”
“The GOP does this or that bad thing” - “But Democrats support 1 million baby murders annually.”
“Trump is incompetent” - “But Democrats support 1 million baby murders annually.”
“Republicans are running up the deficit” - “But Democrats support 1 million baby murders annually.”
***Any ***flaw of Trump or the GOP pales in comparison to that card. Democrats often underestimate this.
What has Trump done to prevent abortions?
And I don’t believe that most of these folks actually think 1 million babies are murdered annually. If they really believed this, and they’re not pathetic excuses for human beings, they’d be doing a lot more than just supporting pro-life politicians and attending pro-life rallies.
Not only last US election but loads of US and every other country elections show how hard it is to estimate stuff like that, even if you pay very close attention to the country in question. I don’t pay much more attention to Canada than any other of dozens of non-US countries (I do read about other countries pretty much, but spread it around). Some Canadians pay more relative attention to the US it seems, but probably not that much. And even if you pay a lot of attention, it’s still hard I think.
The Democratic candidate isn’t likely to be Hillary Clinton again*, but there’s no easy way to estimate how many people will think a given Democratic personality or moreover platform perhaps well to the left of the Obama admin, or even what Clinton (‘16) was saying, would still make Trump their ‘lesser evil’. It’s not a rerun, and that’s not necessarily to the Democrats’ advantage, though could be.
Also very hard to estimate who that thought Trump was ‘lesser evil’ in '16 was actually expecting to be ‘saved’…and of that I believe small naive minority, who says they don’t think they have been? 
Seriously, I think a far greater number of people voted for Trump with far lower expectations than salvation and it’s far less clear that he’s been worse than they expected.
A lot is going to depend on what happens with the economy, who the Democrats nominate, how skillful a general election campaign that person and Trump conduct, all the usual stuff.
But a coin flip is in the ballpark of the right odds IMO. I don’t see the betting market ever getting to way higher than 50% for Trump (or not until, if it were to happen, positive actual election results come in on election night) because there’s not as much really good than can happen for him as bad. Unexpected good for Trump is mainly limited I think to unexpectedly bitter, divisive and demoralizing Democratic primary/convention struggle. Usually that’s teased a lot by media to keep viewers interested, but doesn’t happen. On the big downside are many more possibilities like sharp economic slowdown, impeachment not being the fizzle it appears to be so far, major foreign crisis Trump’s broadly perceived to badly mishandled (not just people who already don’t like him criticizing him like in recent Iran thing). But I’d still say 50% is around neutral, not a great trading opportunity to bet for or against him.
*in average of betting odds she’s ahead of Amy Klobuchar, who some people treat as a serious possibility, but low single digits both.
What about, “I’m a Libertarian and Trump is much, much better than the Socialists running as Democrats, who all want to expand the Welfare state and shred the Constitution.” I don’t support the Libertarian Party because it has made legalization of drugs and open borders too much of its platform.
Ooooh! I’m all triggered now! Except…I’m not because “open borders” = from the playbook of “I like making stuff up for the sole purpose of getting a reaction out of people”. You big ol goofball.
I would be interested to hear how Trump’s assault on congressional oversight of the executive is not a worse assault on the Constitution than whatever you think is going on with the welfare state.
You’re not any kind of libertarian. You’re a Republican authoritarian who lacks the courage to use those words.
People who believe this are people who lack an adult concept of “evil”.