2020 Presidential Election

[Acymetric]

Yeah, what is the point of that? The VP has no formal portfolio other than being the tie-breaking vote in the Senate. If we managed to elect a P and VP from different parties, what role would the VP play in the administration? The VP is here to be a senior adviser to the President. If you are going to go down that path, would you also elect members of the cabinet?

It would take a constitutional amendment to get this passed, right? I'll start paying attention to this issue when 50% of the state legislatures have adopted it (it would need 2/3rds, but I'll pay attention if it can get to 50%).

-Jason "the effort to replace the electoral college with the popular vote is a lot more interesting and a lot more likely" Evans

I think making our presidential election system any more complicated right now is a bad idea.

Well, right now VP selection is more or less a giant exercise in pandering to [whatever target group is deemed important]. IF we were going to go down this path (not suggesting we should), I would be on board with doing this per-party in the primaries (so the runner up in the primary gets the VP nod) and then keeping the general the way it is now. This would have some interesting results, some good and some bad. I would need to think on it for a while and really map out the implications to decide where I land on this.

Incidentally, there is historic president for some states casting their electoral college votes for a VP candidate other than the chosen running mate although it didn't end up being enough to deny the VP candidates in those elections the nomination.

[Jeffrey]

Yeah, what is the point of that? The VP has no formal portfolio other than being the tie-breaking vote in the Senate. If we managed to elect a P and VP from different parties, what role would the VP play in the administration? The VP is here to be a senior adviser to the President. If you are going to go down that path, would you also elect members of the cabinet?

Strongly agree! IMO, a President should be able to solely pick all their VPs.

[Acymetric]

Strongly agree! IMO, a President should be able to solely pick all their VPs.

I think a case could be made for electing the VP separately during the primary (either a separate race, or ideally the runner up in the primary results) rather than letting the President choose. I agree that we don't want a VP from a different party (which is at least part of the story behind the 12th amendment being written).

[OldPhiKap]

LOL. No.

Are you seriously trying to say a 2 term VP to a President beloved by his party is going to have the same recognition as the junior Senator from the second smallest (by population) state? Seriously?

Yeah, seriously.

Sanders ran and campaigned in every state just two years ago in the Democratic Primary. The battle between him and Hillary was nightly news for half a year, and he has been a fixture in the news ever since. Most people by contrast couldn't name the present VP, let alone a past one who has been out of the spotlight for several years now. I think the name recognition is fairly similar.

And even if you give Biden a nod as I suggested in my post, do you think it is really a 30%+ difference in name recognition?

JMHO, YMMV.

[OldPhiKap]

Too late to edit: Fivethirtyeight had an article a few months ago showing that both Biden and Sanders had the same name recognition amongst those likely to vote in the Iowa Caucus:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...e-recognition/

(A generally good article arguing that early polls mean more than we give them credit)

There's probably a general name recognition poll out there somewhere but I've hit my (self-imposed) limit on same-subject posting so I'm out.

[Acymetric]

Too late to edit: Fivethirtyeight had an article a few months ago showing that both Biden and Sanders had the same name recognition amongst those likely to vote in the Iowa Caucus:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...e-recognition/

(A generally good article arguing that early polls mean more than we give them credit)

There's probably a general name recognition poll out there somewhere but I've hit my (self-imposed) limit on same-subject posting so I'm out.

Good article. I wish they would have looked at how many people responded "do not know" for the favorability ratings. That, combined with the name recognition statistic, would let us look at a "familiarity" rating. In other words, I would think that "Name recognition and familiar enough to rate the candidate" would be more meaningful than just name recognition alone. They say they "threw out" the "do not know" results for favorability, which is the correct thing to do for the favorability score, but those "do not know" responses still tell us something important about how people are ranking their candidates and who has the most room to improve as they become more familiar.

[PackMan97]

Yeah, seriously.

Sanders ran and campaigned in every state just two years ago in the Democratic Primary. The battle between him and Hillary was nightly news for half a year, and he has been a fixture in the news ever since. Most people by contrast couldn't name the present VP, let alone a past one who has been out of the spotlight for several years now. I think the name recognition is fairly similar.

And even if you give Biden a nod as I suggested in my post, do you think it is really a 30%+ difference in name recognition?

JMHO, YMMV.

Too late to edit: Fivethirtyeight had an article a few months ago showing that both Biden and Sanders had the same name recognition amongst those likely to vote in the Iowa Caucus:

The article I was discussion was sampling registered voters. Not likely voters. Not likely voters in a primary or likely caucus goers from a specific politics intensive state, but just registered voters. Those are WILDLY different populations. They asked those that identified democrat or independents that lean democrat. In addition, they were not given a list, but asked to name a candidate and were not given the option of no-opinion or wouldn't vote.

So, I would say a very poorly designed poll. I think in that situation Biden will have a significant edge of Sanders, or any other candidate in the field. I also think the poll isn't worth the time it took to take it.

[El_Diablo]

Good article. I wish they would have looked at how many people responded "do not know" for the favorability ratings. That, combined with the name recognition statistic, would let us look at a "familiarity" rating. In other words, I would think that "Name recognition and familiar enough to rate the candidate" would be more meaningful than just name recognition alone. They say they "threw out" the "do not know" results for favorability, which is the correct thing to do for the favorability score, but those "do not know" responses still tell us something important about how people are ranking their candidates and who has the most room to improve as they become more familiar.

Scroll down to "Tracking Name Recognition and Favorability":

https://morningconsult.com/2020-democratic-primary/

According to these polls of registered voters, among those who indicated they may vote in the Democratic primary or caucus in their state, Biden and Sanders are nearly identical in terms of name recognition.

[budwom]

Scroll down to "Tracking Name Recognition and Favorability":

https://morningconsult.com/2020-democratic-primary/

According to these polls of registered voters, among those who indicated they may vote in the Democratic primary or caucus in their state, Biden and Sanders are nearly identical in terms of name recognition.

Ten percent of the voters probably wonder why Sanders is also Trump's press secretary.

[El_Diablo]

Ten percent of the voters probably wonder why Sanders is also Trump's press secretary.

Tim Ryan's high unfavorability ratings (compared to other relative unknowns) probably are due to some people confusing him with Paul Ryan.

[Jeffrey]

I think a case could be made for electing the VP separately during the primary (either a separate race, or ideally the runner up in the primary results) rather than letting the President choose.

I think a President should be able to select their VP and Cabinet in order to create the best working relationships and environment possible.

[budwom]

I think a President should be able to select their VP and Cabinet in order to create the best working relationships and environment possible.

I agree, plus you don't want to send just any schmuck to that important state funeral in Flouristan...

[JasonEvans]

Scroll down to "Tracking Name Recognition and Favorability":

https://morningconsult.com/2020-democratic-primary/

According to these polls of registered voters, among those who indicated they may vote in the Democratic primary or caucus in their state, Biden and Sanders are nearly identical in terms of name recognition.

Here is a chart from Morning Consult. As you can see, Biden and Sanders are darn close to universally recognized.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Ten percent of the voters probably wonder why Sanders is also Trump's press secretary.

And assume that he made his fortune in fried chicken?

[Jeffrey]

I agree, plus you don't want to send just any schmuck to that important state funeral in Flouristan...

Exactly, it should be the schmuck of choice!

[mattman91]

Here is a chart from Morning Consult. As you can see, Biden and Sanders are darn close to universally recognized.

I'd be interested to see Tulsi's numbers here...

[Jeffrey]

Ten percent of the voters probably wonder why Sanders is also Trump's press secretary.

And assume that he made his fortune in fried chicken?

Nah, he made his fortune as the GOAT NFL corner. Trump is awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom next week.

[OldPhiKap]

VP also traditionally oversees NASA. I don’t want to see someone run for VP on a flat Earth platform.

[El_Diablo]

I'd be interested to see Tulsi's numbers here...

Scroll down in the link I provided...she's listed too.

[wilson]

VP also traditionally oversees NASA. I don’t want to see someone run for VP on a flat Earth platform.

Can we nominate someone for VP on a "Launch this 'I'm a real wanker for saying this' into space" platform?