If hypothetically the 2024 Democratic Presidential Primary was being held tomorrow, who would you vote for?

[llorando]

Marianne Williamson recently confirmed she will challenge Biden for the Democratic nomination. So far she is the only confirmed candidate to be running in the 2024 Democratic Presidential Primary.

Marianne Williamson

Joe Biden

I don't vote in Democratic primaries.

[nightdrot]

While I typically do not vote in Democratic party primary elections - and voted above accordingly - there are Democrats who are worth voting for. See also Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

An "old school" Democrat - which is to say, a Democrat of the pre-1960s vintage. He sees the purpose of the welfare state as being one to alleviate the worst financial impacts of illness, old age and temporary unemployment. He does not buy into the post-Great Society model that sees the welfare state as a tool of social engineering.

Such "social engineering," however well intentioned, is as apt as not to produce unintended outcomes the exact opposite of those that were sought. Highly disruptive cultural impacts to follow - see also the phenomenon referred to in contemporary parlance as "wokeism." The impact of which has been to, at minimum, tear asunder the civility and stability of the culture.

Bottom line, as public officials like Senator Manchin suggest, American political parties are not ideological parties as you tend to see in Europe. Rather they are lose knit coalitions of regional, religious, ethnic, racial, income and other groups that have come together in part by common interests and in part by historical accident.

In the case of the GOP, it is a coalition made up of classical liberals - which Americans call conservatives - libertarians, small and medium sized business, religious and social traditionalists, lower middle and upper middle income earners, farmers, rural and exurban populations, and historically older voters. It tends to dominate the South, the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountain West and the state of Alaska - though this is starting to change somewhat.

On the Democratic side you get, ethnic and religious minorities, middle and high income wage earners, big business and entertainment industries, urban and inner suburban votes, radical liberals - which Americans call liberals. (Note, the term "radical" here does not mean as Americans use it, i. e. "extremist," but rather as the ancient Greeks used the term, meaning "to the root of.") The regions where it is dominant are northeast, the mid-Atlantic, the Pacific coast and the state of Hawaii. (Though again, this is starting to change and is one of the reasons that Mrs. Clinton was defeated in 2016.)

This is how you get a Republican Party that runs from Ted Cruz at one end to Susan Collins at the other, with the libertarian Rand Paul thrown into the mix. This is how you get a Democratic Party that runs from the aforementioned Joe Manchin at one end to Elizabeth Warren at the other. Quite simply, party identification is not about ideological identity.

This being even more complicated by the fact that both parties are experiencing a populist phase as happened in the late 19th century and again in the 1960s and 70s. Populism not being a schematic philosophy, but rather a cultural attitude characterized by distrust of complexity, a disdain for elites, and a belief that the common man is the font of all virtue but that he is oppressed by the elites and the "special interests." This manifesting itself in a mishmash of policies that are more often related by sentiment than any coherent overarching theoretical structure.

Grant that at the moment, given all this, the chances of Senator Manchin winning the Democratic party presidential nomination are, putting it gently, minimal. Nevertheless, he would be worth voting for, if nothing else than to moderate the populism and "wokeism" that is motivating the Democratic party's agenda.

[matchrestore]

I don't know all that much about Marianne Williamson, but from a quick scan of her Wikipedia article it seems her views are pretty closely aligned with mine. in a perfect world i would support her campaign, but it's not a perfect world. I don't think she could win. There would have to be a candidate that could clearly carry a general election for me to vote against Joe Biden as an incumbent.

[Leopard23]

I'd have to register as a democrat and pretend my vote mattered

[NamerOfStars]

I don't know enough to say. I'm tempted to put in "Anyone would be better than Biden", but then, that's the kind of thinking that got us Biden in the first place.

[LiamJHayden]

Not a Democrat, but cannot understand why they do not look at Andy Beshear.. Pretty popular D governor is a hardcore Red State.

[gorydetails]

The only Democrat I’d ever vote for wised up and left the party.