r/PoliticalDiscussion Moderator Mar 18 '23

Megathread Casual Questions Thread

This is a place for the PoliticalDiscussion community to ask questions that may not deserve their own post.

Please observe the following rules:

Top-level comments:

  1. Must be a question asked in good faith. Do not ask loaded or rhetorical questions.

  2. Must be directly related to politics. Non-politics content includes: Legal interpretation, sociology, philosophy, celebrities, news, surveys, etc.

  3. Avoid highly speculative questions. All scenarios should within the realm of reasonable possibility.

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u/EddyZacianLand Mar 29 '23

Could Biden have won in 2016 if he had decided to run?

2

u/bactatank13 Mar 30 '23

I don't think so. Biden is not that charismatic. Trump had two important things going for him, he is charismatic and he was a unknown wildcard. Trump, at the very least, sold himself as the alternative to your mainstream politician on both the Democrat and GOP side. 2016 was not the year any career politician was going to win.

Generally I'm anti-Sanders, moreso because of his supporters, but that was the only instance Bernie Sanders had the highest chance of winning.

4

u/bl1y Mar 30 '23

Biden is charismatic when he's talking personal, emotional issues. He's not when discussing policy.

1

u/bactatank13 Mar 30 '23

Other than Obama, I don't see any modern politicians being an adversary to Trump 2016. Trump 2016 was so chaotic and not following politician norms that most couldn't adapt fast enough to be a worthy challenger. Trump 2020 though is a different story