Meghan McCain shared a blunt message for the Democratic Party on Saturday in response to the suggestion that Democrats should nominate Vice President Kamala Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as the party’s 2024 presidential ticket.
What did McCain say?
By elevating Harris and Buttigieg to be the presidential ticket Democrats could run in 2024, McCain suggested the Democratic Party is completely detached from reality.
“What even is this? Why can’t the left just be normal — and grounded in some semblance of reality?” McCain said.
What even is this? Why can’t the left just be normal – and grounded in some semblance of reality?https://twitter.com/ColumbiaSIPA/status/1464265198269775876u00a0u2026
— Meghan McCain (@Meghan McCain)
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McCain was reacting to a recent CNN essay that promoted Harris-Buttigieg as “a very strong ticket in 2024 that would seem like a natural continuation of Biden’s first term.”
The essay says, in part:
When Biden picked Kamala Harris as his running mate, he indicated that she was the future of the Democratic Party. It is natural that other politicians who see themselves as that future might chafe at that. Nonetheless, regardless of how she is viewed by many now, Harris will be a strong frontrunner to succeed Biden. The best way to ensure victory for the party may not be a drawn-out effort to nominate another flawed candidate, but to put together a balanced ticket with two rising Democratic Party stars.
Would Harris-Buttigieg be good for Democrats?
While the 2024 presidential election is three years away (and it’s not yet clear that President Joe Biden will not seek re-election), current polling data rejects the idea that Harris and Buttigieg would make the victory ticket the Democratic Party hopes for to keep control of the White House.
For example, a USA Today/Suffolk University poll published earlier in November reported that Harris’ approval rating is just 28%, while her disapproval rating is nearly double at 51%. As Politico observed, “That’s lower even than Vice President Dick Cheney, who was previously known as the least popular vice president in modern American history.”
Ironically, Politico White House reporter Eugene Daniels attributed Harris’ low approval rating to racism, sexism, Harris being tasked with difficult issues, and Republicans constantly tying Harris to Joe Biden. The White House, however, has branded itself the “Biden-Harris” administration, thereby inextricably tying Harris to Biden.
Meanwhile, Buttigieg also boasts bad polling numbers. A recent Rasmussen Reports poll, for example, found that Buttigieg’s approval rating among likely voters is 37%, while his disapproval rating is 47%.
Turns out, neglecting the border crisis and calling infrastructure racist don’t generate favor among voters. Fortunately for Republicans, if Democrats remain untethered from reality, as McCain suggested, Republicans will cruise to victory in the 2022 midterm elections and 2024 presidential contest.