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1/ Ask any New Hampshire Democrat what factor is most important in choosing a president, and the response is instantaneous and nearly universal: “Whoever can beat Trump.”
2/ These are “electability” voters, and they are now driving the Democratic primary. They’re the biggest reason—perhaps the only reason—former Vice President Joe Biden remains atop the field.
3/ “Electability” has long been a factor in the nomination battles of both parties, but the still-fresh shock of Trump’s 2016 victory and the desperation that many Democrats feel to get him out of office has elevated the concern to a higher priority than ever before.
4/ “A party has to win before it can govern, and a major goal of any presidential-nomination fight is to find the strongest candidate to carry the party banner in a general election,” @russellberman writes. bit.ly/32pUvPE
5/ Furthermore, “electability” has turned voters into amateur pundits. They are basing their choice less on which candidate appeals the most to them, and more on which one they believe will appeal the most to others.
6/ The problem lies in the oft-forgotten truth that “electability” is a reflection of the commentary people read online or see on cable TV, and it can be a stand-in for racist or sexist assumptions.
7/ The rise in these “electability” voters coincides with a decades-long decline in interpersonal trust, as well as data indicating that most Americans lack confidence in others to cast an informed vote.
8/8 But voters’ reluctance to stand with the candidate they like the most comes down to trust—whether people trust others to make the same judgment, or vote based on the same value set, that they do. And trust is in short supply among Americans right now. bit.ly/32pUvPE
